Planning granted with BNG for Yorkshire home
Developer: Pretty Perfect Properties
Sector: Residential
Region: Yorkshire & Humber
LPA: Wakefield Metropolitan District Council
NCA: Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Yorkshire Coalfield
Habitat Bank: Horwich, Greater Manchester
Biodiversity Units: Grassland
When a project became no longer exempt from Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) policy, Pretty Perfect Properties needed to find off-site Biodiversity Units to satisfy planning conditions. With help from Environment Bank, the small residential development in West Yorkshire received planning permission and building work began on schedule.
About the development
The Pretty Perfect Properties development involved turning an existing bungalow into a two-storey home with additional rooms to accommodate a large family – with design features to make the dwelling far more sustainable and energy efficient than the previous bungalow.
The project was initially submitted in May 2024 as a self-build application which would make it exempt from the 10% Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) condition. But by December, changes to the project meant that it could no longer be considered self-build, so BNG would apply.
BNG remained as the final condition that was preventing the local authority, Wakefield Council, from granting planning permission. As the development site was small, residential, and unsuitable for any on-site habitat creation or enhancement, off-site Biodiversity Units would be required to achieve the 10% net gain.
To secure planning permission for the development, Pretty Perfect Properties needed to find off-site Biodiversity Units and submit both a biodiversity gain plan and a habitat management and monitoring plan to the council to demonstrate how they planned to deliver BNG.
Thanks to providers like Environment Bank, BNG can really work for small developers like us. Because we could buy the exact amount we needed, our off-site Biodiversity Units cost us less than we expected. We’d happily work with the team at Environment Bank again, they’re really helpful and have lots of expertise, so we’d gladly recommend them to other small developers.
Olivia Mitchell
Pretty Perfect Properties
Providing fractional Biodiversity Units with BNG support
With a large national network of BNG Habitat Banks and a team of biodiversity experts ready to offer their support, Environment Bank was easily able to help Pretty Perfect Properties with everything they needed.
Pretty Perfect Properties had also been working with Harrogate Architectural, a family-owned architectural practice based in Yorkshire, who secured planning and building control approval for the site and later assisted throughout the build. We were happy to assist their team in processing the project’s biodiversity gain plan as BNG was still relatively new to them.
Due to the scale of the project, Pretty Perfect Properties only required less than one fifth of a Biodiversity Unit to meet their BNG condition. Environment Bank supplied the exact amount Pretty Perfect Properties needed, so they didn’t have to pay for a whole Biodiversity Unit.
With Biodiversity Units secured, Pretty Perfect Properties received their planning decision at the end of December 2024 and, within one month, their off-site Biodiversity Units were formally allocated on Natural England’s biodiversity gain sites register.
Since completing their purchase, we’ve continued to support Pretty Perfect Properties and Wakefield Council by providing habitat management information and supporting documents to ensure all parties understand exactly how the Biodiversity Units are being delivered.
We’re grateful to the team for supporting us with the biodiversity gain plan for this project as we’d never had to complete one before, and we’re pleased to say this plan has now been approved. With a better understanding of BNG, we’re now far more confident with how it works for small developers. Thank you, Environment Bank.
Ellie Thickett
Operations Manager
Harrogate Architectural
Supporting large-scale nature recovery in the north
Pretty Perfect Properties’ grassland Biodiversity Units were sourced from our Horwich Habitat Bank which is located in a neighbouring National Character Area (NCA) to the development. This made things more cost-effective for Pretty Perfect Properties than if they’d had to source off-site BNG from further away.
Horwich Habitat Bank is legally secured for BNG via a conservation covenant with RSK Wilding, an approved responsible body, and listed on the national biodiversity gain sites register.
Our in-house ecologists have carefully planned the site to transform the existing degraded farmland into 120-acres of diverse habitat. Alongside the grassland Biodiversity Units supplied to Pretty Perfect Properties, Horwich Habitat Bank also has ponds, ditches, and scrubland available.
This vast space is home to a variety of native wildlife species including great crested newt, curlew, lapwing, skylark, grasshopper warbler, common toad, and brown hare. With the Habitat Bank accessible via public footpaths, we’re delighted that people from the local community can also enjoy watching its biodiversity flourish over time.
It was rewarding playing a part in this new development for Pretty Perfect Properties and supporting Harrogate Architectural through this process. With our Horwich Habitat Bank joining the biodiversity gain site register in December 2024, we were really pleased we were able to deliver the Biodiversity Units that Pretty Perfect Properties required on schedule.
Ettie Gioia
Senior Business Development Executive
Environment Bank