Nature restoration can go hand in hand with building the new homes and infrastructure Britain needs. Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), which is the requirement on development to leave nature in a better state than it was found, will be applied to major infrastructure projects from May 2026. This is a central Government policy to ensure Britain can restore its natural capital alongside building new homes and infrastructure.

Toby Perkins, MP for Chesterfield, and Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, gave a keynote speech today to infrastructure providers, developers, ecologists, and planners at the Environment Bank’s BNG summit.

You can read Toby’s full speech below.

 

Transcript of keynote speech at Environment Bank on 25 November 2025:

Good morning everyone. I’m delighted to be here today, at this Environment Bank summit on Biodiversity Net Gain. This is a timely opportunity to gather, ahead of the introduction of mandatory BNG for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects next year.

BNG is an innovative and world-leading policy, with the potential to support the twin goals of nature restoration and economic growth.

During our recent Sustainability and housing growth report, the Environmental Audit Committee, which I chair, found that nature recovery can go hand in hand with building the new homes and infrastructure Britain needs.

Far from a burden, building nature into new development is necessary if we are to restore our natural capital alongside building new homes and expanding our infrastructure. And it makes for richer and more attractive communities too.

Previously as shadow nature minister and now as Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, I have been following the development of BNG closely.

Whilst I appreciate that there have been some teething issues – I will address some of these concerns later on – BNG offers immense opportunities to ensure nature-friendly development and to inject private capital into nature restoration.

Thus I am delighted that the Government is rightly forging on with applying mandatory BNG to major infrastructure projects from May next year.

 

We live in one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, with British wildlife having declined 69% since the 1970s. Whilst there has been some progress in improving the state of some species, like goldfinches and brown hares, significant nature restoration across the country will be needed to turn the tide for nature. The Environment Act sets an ambitious but necessary target of halting the decline of biodiversity by 2030 and reversing it by 2042.

At the same time, the UK has a legally-binding target for net zero by 2050, a steadfast mission for clean power by 2030, and a political imperative to bring down energy bills as quickly as possible.

Action on climate is also necessary for tackling the biodiversity emergency – one of the major contributing factors of the degradation of our natural world is climate change.

At the same time, conserving and expanding carbon-rich habitats such as peatlands, woodlands, seagrass and more, is integral to sequestering carbon emissions. The nature and climate crises cannot be disentangled.

In the UK, this means an unprecedented expansion in the next few years in clean energy infrastructure and grid infrastructure, at the same time as enhancing and creating new habitats for wildlife. To connect new electricity generation and to meet future demand, around twice as much new transmission network infrastructure will be needed in Great Britain by in the next five years as has been delivered in the past decade. Environmental targets require the restoration or creation of more than 500,000 hectares of habitats in England outside of existing protected areas.

 

In this context of expanding clean energy infrastructure and a nature crisis, Biodiversity Net Gain is key. It is one of the most powerful tools that Government has to ensure the UK can build the infrastructure that it needs, alongside boosting biodiversity.

Done well, mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain will mean that when development goes ahead, local habitats are also created and enhanced. The mitigation hierarchy ensures that this onsite nature improvement is the priority.

However, where onsite enhancement is not possible, developers can buy offsite biodiversity credits instead. Whilst the risk of offsite delivery of BNG is further nature loss in cities or communities, on some occasions, this is the best outcome for nature diversity, enabling nature recovery at scale.

Alongside incentivising more nature-friendly development, Biodiversity Net Gain has catalysed a new market for nature restoration. By 2030, up to £200 million annually in private investment in nature recovery could be unlocked through this market alone.

Now imagine that BNG is applied to major infrastructure projects, not just local housing developments…

 

Operating at a larger, more strategic scale, major infrastructure projects, whilst often having impacts on nature, offer big opportunities to improve nature.

In fact, many infrastructure projects are already delivering biodiversity net gain. National Grid already have already committed to providing at least 10% net gain in environmental value, including Biodiversity Net Gain, on all their construction projects. Network Rail provided BNG for the development of Salford Crescent Station. So did the new Stadium of Everton Football Club, through purchasing biodiversity credits for nature recovery at Horwich Habitat Bank, supplied by the Environment Bank.

These are just some of the projects which have gone above and beyond to meet BNG and to support large-scale nature restoration.

Making BNG mandatory for all NSIPs would significantly increase the scale of the market for offsite nature credits, funnelling more private investment into natural capital, at a time when these financial flows for land managers and farmers is desperately needed.

 

I must give the former government credit here. Whilst of course I have criticisms of the previous Conservative Government, Biodiversity Net Gain is an innovative and world-leading policy, as was the Environment Act more broadly. That the current version of the Conservative party is abandoning some of the environmental territory that they have a proud track record on, is, therefore, hugely disappointing.

I am proud that this Government is taking forward BNG for NSIPs. And I urge the Government to publish its response to the consultation on this policy soon to give all of industry as much lead-in as possible ahead of implementation next May.

I have also been urging this Government – and I have written publicly about, as well as directly to Ministers – to strengthen, not scrap, BNG for small sites.

I am concerned that there have been briefings which paint bats and newts as a barrier to building new homes and infrastructure. These characterisations are at best, lazy, and at worst, deeply damaging. They distract from some of the excellent work that many developers are already undertaking. And they also distract from some of the more significant challenges in the planning system, such as the lack of resources and skills within local authorities to support good planning applications.

BNG is part of the solution. I have seen this for myself.

At the Duchy of Cornwall’s development of Nansledan in Cornwall, I saw how, through designing with nature in mind, the site was able to achieve a greater housing density, alongside a 24% net gain for nature.

At the Environment Bank’s Cornwell Habitat Bank near Chipping Norton, I saw how the nature market created by BNG drives habitat enhancement and creation at a scale previously challenging to achieve.

Whilst Ministers are right to look again at the implementation of BNG to housing developments, any changes must reinforce the policy and contribute to Labour’s housing and nature goals, not undermine them.

 

In my view, the case for the effective implementation and expansion of mandatory BNG is clear. British people care about wildlife, the countryside, and passing on a healthy natural environment to their children and future generations. We must also have homes, roads, reservoirs, and renewables to ensure a safe and secure future.

Across the country, British people want to, and deserve to, breathe clean air, to enjoy clean rivers and seas, and to have birds singing in their gardens and in their local parks.

Having this enabled by, not prevented by, major infrastructure projects can alter perceptions about the role of infrastructure in our country- from necessary evil to force for good.

 

Recognising the public interest and the political challenge, the Environmental Audit Committee set out to explore the question of how the Government could deliver on its building and sustainability agendas hand-in-hand. Whilst the report was focused on housing growth, its findings, particularly on BNG, are relevant in a wider development context.

In our reports we have reiterated our support for Biodiversity Net Gain and urged the Government to make use of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects as a method to drive support for BNG. So we hugely welcomed the fact that the Government, shortly after our report, published its consultation on applying BNG to NSIPs and committed to introducing it from May 2026.

Whilst we did hear evidence during both inquiries highlighting some issues with the implementation of BNG, the Committee believes BNG needs refining not abandoning. In particular, the Committee heard that for BNG to deliver genuine benefits for nature, clear lines of accountability, robust monitoring and enforcement mechanisms are essential.

We made several recommendations to Government on these points: calling for an onsite register for net gain, additional training and resources for Local Planning Authorities, and further guidance around how delivery and maintenance of BNG will be enforced over the full 30-year period.

It is not a case of saying nothing must ever change, but we do believe government must allow BNG to bed in before making significant changes to the policy. Proportionality is legitimate to consider, but a blanket exemption for small sites could undercut the nascent market, and lead to developer and investor certainty.

Finally, the Committee raised concerns that in some cases, replacing nature on derelict brownfield sites will be more difficult than on greenfield sites, creating a perverse incentive in favour of greenfield development over brownfield development, contrary to the Government’s stated brownfield-first approach. The Government should ensure that BNG does not prevent brownfield development from coming forward.

 

There are those who say that BNG is too difficult, too expensive, or might come at the cost of delivering infrastructure. To them I would say – look at all the developers and infrastructure providers already delivering projects whilst boosting biodiversity by 10% or more, even ahead of Government policy.

It is brilliant to see all the people in this room, ready to make BNG for NSIPs work.

To those who might worry that there aren’t enough biodiversity credits to make the BNG market work, I would say – the Environment Bank, habitat banks, other businesses, land managers, and farmers up and down the UK are proving them wrong.

Whilst the market is emerging, it is already delivering nature restoration projects across the country and has vast potential, especially as mandatory BNG for major infrastructure is implemented next summer.

And to those politicians who would accept building at the expense of nature and communities, I would say – another way is possible.

In fact, it’s already being achieved. We already have onshore wind, solar farms, new grid networks, rail lines, roads, reservoirs, and new homes which are boosting biodiversity, rather than further depleting our precious natural capital.

BNG is a part of greener building and economic growth; it’s part of the future of this country.

I look forward to working with all of you – Government, parliamentarians, developers, infrastructure providers, nature providers, ecologists, planners – to ensuring BNG works well, as it is applied to major infrastructure projects.

That way we can build the infrastructure, the biodiversity, and the country that we need and deserve.