Biodiversity net gain plans in Newham

A borough of flats, few houses and a Green Belt sliver

Newham has 115,507 households, and only 47.1 per cent live in a house. Gardens cover 16.9 per cent of land, and Green Belt covers only 2 per cent of the borough.

The habitat on a typical site is therefore modest: a yard, a strip of lawn, perhaps a self-seeded tree on a vacant plot. A low baseline makes the gain easier to reach on site, and a few new trees or a biodiverse roof can do it.

The borough has 9 conservation areas and 125 listed building entries, so we check heritage before proposing planting that touches a protected frontage.

On a vacant yard or former workshop site, the baseline is often a mix of bare ground and ruderal vegetation, which scores lower than most owners expect. That is good news for the gain, as long as the baseline is recorded before any clearance, so we photograph and date the site at the first visit.

Exemptions that apply to Newham homeowners

Householder extensions, loft conversions and permitted development are exempt, as is a new home on a site of 0.2 hectares or less where no priority habitat is affected. Newham will still want the biodiversity statement for new housing, so the exemption removes the metric but not the paperwork.

Smaller impacts, under 25 square metres of habitat, are de minimis. On an inner-borough plot that is often the case, which is why the first step is a measured site plan.

When a plan is required, the gain is maintained for at least 30 years, and we write that into the maintenance notes.

Do not clear or pave a plot to make the numbers easier. The statutory approach looks at the habitat present before work began, and recent clearance can be treated as lowering the baseline, which removes the benefit and risks the application.

How decisions run and how we prepare the file

Minor applications are granted 78.9 per cent of the time across 407 decisions, and 92.6 per cent are decided in time. A missing statement would stop validation, so we prepare it with the drawings.

Our new build drawings include the landscape and roof layout, and our flat conversion drawings cover the common case in the borough where a house becomes flats. If the scheme is varied after permission, we review the amendment route first.

If permission is already granted and the design changes, tell us the decision date and condition numbers first. We will check whether the change is a minor material amendment and whether the gain condition applies to it, before you pay for new drawings.

Price and next step

There is no list price, because the work depends on the habitat parcels. You receive a fixed quote after a free constraints check.

Send the address, the permission reference if there is one and what you plan to change. We will say whether Newham needs a statement, a plan or neither.