#2026/494UK updates biodiversity gain site register rules for infrastructure projects
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
This law expands England’s biodiversity gain site register so it can be used for projects approved through the development consent system, not just ordinary planning permission. That matters for major infrastructure projects, which use the Planning Act 2008 route. Developers, landowners, habitat banks and advisers can now register land and allocate habitat improvements to developments with development consent. The practical change is mostly technical: application forms and allocation records must now cover both planning permission and development consent cases.
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Key Changes
- Adds definitions for biodiversity gain site, development, and development consent to the 2024 register rules
- Makes land linked to development consent projects eligible for the biodiversity gain site register
- Allows habitat enhancements on registered land to be allocated to projects approved under the Planning Act 2008
Obligations
What this law requires
From 29 May 2026, applicants registering biodiversity gain sites must treat land allocated to projects with development consent under the Planning Act 2008 as eligible for the biodiversity gain site register, alongside land allocated to projects with planning permission.
A biodiversity gain site must be land where a person is required under a conservation covenant or planning obligation to carry out habitat enhancement works and maintain that enhancement for at least 30 years after completion.
Applicants registering land in the biodiversity gain site register must ensure application content can identify allocations of habitat enhancement to developments with either planning permission or development consent, as applicable.
Where an application to register land involves allocation of habitat enhancement, the application must reference the applicable statutory biodiversity gain regime: Schedule 7A to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for planning permission cases or Schedule 2A to the Planning Act 2008 for development consent cases.
Applications to record allocation of habitat enhancement after land is already registered may allocate that enhancement only to a development for which planning permission or development consent has been granted, as applicable.