Net Benefit for Biodiversity (NBB)

The Net Benefit for Biodiversity (NBB) approach by the Welsh Governments aims to secure an overall improvement in biodiversity on development sites, similar to Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) in England, but does not utilise a metric. Instead the approach puts an emphasis on proactive consideration of biodiversity and wider ecosystem benefits within a placemaking context early in the design process. The aim is that the planning system will encourage the use of high calibre ecological expertise and early discussions with planning teams to design developments on a case-by-case basis that positively impact ecosystem resilience. NBB does not have a mandatory length of time that management is required for.

Switch Ecology have extensive experience is site assessment using the DECCA (Diversity, Extent, Condition, Connectivity and Aspects of ecosystem resilience) framework and can provide advice throughout the design process, ensuring that a development provides an overall gain in biodiversity, whilst still meeting the requirements of the site.