The Land Trust provides a comprehensive and sustainable approach to delivering and managing Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), ensuring that habitats are not only created but maintained and enhanced for at least 30 years, and often in perpetuity. As a designated Responsible Body, we offer expert oversight and long-term stewardship, giving clients confidence that their BNG commitments will be delivered effectively.
The Land Trust support both on-site and off-site BNG solutions for both voluntary and mandatory requirements. For developers integrating BNG within their projects, we take ownership and management of on-site BNG spaces, funded through service charges or endowments.
When on-site provision isn’t feasible, we provide off-site BNG solutions, offering strategic habitat banks and the sale of Biodiversity Units (BU) to meet planning obligations.
Our endowment model ensures in-perpetuity habitat management, offering a financially secure alternative to the standard 30-year funding model. With an investment portfolio of nearly £200 million, we remove long-term liability from developers while delivering measurable environmental, social, and economic benefits for communities.
The Biodiversity Metric uses Biodiversity Units (BUs) as a proxy for biodiversity.
The units resulting from the Biodiversity Metric calculation will fall into one of three types: habitat, hedgerow or watercourse units. The respective BU types are assessed and valued separately and cannot be bought and sold interchangeably to provide an overall 10% net gain.
All references to BUs, whether on-site or off-site are to be calculated using the statutory Biodiversity Metric and respective User Guide.
Habitat banks are specific areas of land where habitats are created or enhanced to increase biodiversity value and strategically managed for the long-term. These banks are then used to generate biodiversity units, which can be sold to developers to help them meet BNG requirements off-site. Our approach is to partner with you at an early stage of your project to help achieve the best outcomes for both on-site and off-site BNG requirement.
The Land Trust utilises its existing sites that are already managed for local communities but often lack the funding for conservation aims.
BU funding broadens our ability to invest in the natural capital of our sites for the benefit of wildlife and people. We have proven expertise in creating and maintaining biodiverse habitats.
The Land Trust operates nationally with sites in strategic locations throughout England’s LPAs and NCAs.
We offer sustainable solutions to BNG requirements. BUs purchased from us contribute to significant conservation efforts as well as many community benefits. BUs that we sell help to fund our Green Angels programme, which in turn helps to engage with communities
