17 November 2025
Today a coalition of over 80 leading conservation charities, land managers, ecological consultancies and rural businesses has written to the Secretary of State warning that proposed exemptions for small sites under England’s Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) regime would seriously damage the UK’s only national compliance market for nature.
The joint letter – signed by organisations including The Wildlife Trusts, National Trust, Woodland Trust, Butterfly Conservation, RSK Wilding, Buglife, Entrade, Triodos Bank and Knepp Estate – sets out three core concerns:
1. Exempting sites under 0.5 hectares would remove 97% of planning applications from BNG.
This would leave only a narrow set of developments subject to BNG obligations, stripping demand from the market and making it unviable for many land managers who have already invested heavily in habitat creation. The signatories warn this risks stranding millions of pounds of private investment made in good faith under the existing regulatory framework.
2. Confidence in the BNG market is already shaken – exemptions would push it towards collapse.
The consultation on Improving the Implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain has already created uncertainty. Further deregulation would undermine the Government’s own ambitions to mobilise £1bn per year in private finance for nature recovery and plug the UK’s £4–5bn annual nature funding gap.
3. Weakening BNG would undermine nature recovery, rural jobs and sustainable development.
BNG is currently the UK’s fastest-growing nature compliance market and a cornerstone of plans to align sustainable development with environmental recovery. The coalition stresses that scrapping requirements for small sites would “pull the regulatory rug” from under an emerging green economy, threatening rural employment and national recovery goals.
Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said:
“Exempting small sites from BNG would pull the thread that unravels the entire system. With the vast majority of applications removed, the market simply couldn’t function – leaving nature, land managers and rural economies high and dry. At a time when private finance for nature is finally beginning to flow, this proposal would strand investment and stall recovery. Instead of weakening the rules, ministers should strengthen them, close loopholes and back a world-leading market that delivers for people and wildlife.”
Instead of exemptions, the organisations call on Government to:
- Close existing loopholes, including self-declaration of “no impact”
- Proceed with BNG for major infrastructure
- Simplify processes only for the very smallest developments, without weakening the overall system
The letter urges ministers not to “shatter the system just as it is beginning to thrive”, highlighting BNG’s potential to be a world-leading model for nature-positive development and private investment.
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