Planning (and Biodiversity Net Gain)

Devon’s local planning authorities have written an LNRS Planning Paper, which is an overview of LNRSs and the planning system. The document will be updated as needed, for example to reflect the proposed policy changes to the National Planning and Policy Framework (NPPF), which was out for consultation in December 2025 and that states:

11. Conserving and enhancing the natural environment. We want to make a number of changes, including to reflect Local Nature Recovery Strategies, to recognise landscape character and conserve and enhance existing natural features, to incorporate swift bricks and to provide guidance on sites of local importance for nature.

For details of BNG and LNRSs please see Section 4 of the LNRS Planning Paper.

Developers must show how they’re achieving a minimum of 10% BNG using the Statutory Biodiversity Metric (SBM). When using the SBM the proposed habitat enhancement or creation must be assessed as having a ‘high strategic significance’ if: 

• It’s in an area mapped as a ‘mapped measure’ in the Local Habitat Map (the High Opportunity Area layers shown on the Devon LNRS Viewer) and, 
• The proposal is consistent with the LNRS actions for the mapped area.  

A merged BNG High Opportunity Areas layer is shown on the Viewer for a quick way to see if a development site is in a High Opportunity Area. However, to see the pop-up for each layer (which includes headline actions and links to web pages with more detailed actions) the relevant individual layers must be opened (use the Near Me function).

Note that the LNRS does not set out one action for each mapped area, and there could be several possible actions.

It’s not possible or appropriate for the LNRS to be prescriptive in respect of land use decisions. Groundtruthing and expert ecological advice are always needed. For example, on acidic wet soils, appropriate habitats could include wet woodland, Purple Moor-grass and rush pasture, wet heath or mire. On free-draining brown earths, habitats could include arable, woodland, species-rich grassland, wood pasture or orchards. The habitat and species layers, and information on the web pages, are there to guide decisions.

A decision on the most appropriate action for any mapped area must be based on detailed knowledge of soils, existing habitats and species (both on site and in the area) and on practicalities relating to land drainage, infrastructure for livestock, long-term funding and management.

To help developers and LPAs meet wildlife legislation and policy requirements, several Devon wildlife and planning guidance notes have been produced. These currently include the following:

• HRA guidance for the South Hams SAC: Greater Horseshoe Bats
• HRA guidance for the Beer Quarry and Caves SAC
• Grey Long-eared Bat guidance note
• Cirl Bunting guidance note
• Great Crested Newt guidance note
• South East Devon Joint Habitats Sites Mitigation Strategy
• Berry Head Recreational Impacts

For clarity, consultation zones relating to these guidance notes are shown on the LNRS Viewer under Other Useful Layers> Planning. Note that some of these are different to the LNRS Species Opportunity Areas. For example, more Greater Horseshoe Bat Sustenance Zones are mapped for the LNRS than are mapped as part of the South Hams SAC and Beer Quarry HRA Guidance Notes (as the HRA mapping only focuses on SAC roosts).

If you have any questions about these planning guidance notes and the mapping please contact: nature@devon.gov.uk

For guidance notes see the Devon County Council wildlife and planning pages.