PAS Natural England Biodiversity Metric Training for Planners

Biodiversity Metric 3 is a biodiversity accounting tool that can be used to calculate losses and gains for terrestrial and/or intertidal habitats associated with a development or other project. Biodiversity Metric 3 was released in July 2021; updating and replacing the beta Biodiversity Metric 2.0. It can be used now and is intended to underpin the Environment Bill’s provisions for mandatory biodiversity net gain.

This event was aimed at Planners working within Local Planning Authorities to help better their understanding of Biodiversity Metric 3, including how to interpret outputs from this tool, and identify where errors may have occurred in completion of the tool. The event was hosted by PAS with training provided by Natural England.

The training covers:

An introduction to Biodiversity Metric 3
Using Biodiversity Metric 3
Interpreting the outputs
Case study
Top tips
Bad practice and error messages

After the presentation there is a question and answer session, which included questions and useful answers on broader issues relating to the application of biodiversity net gain and the new requirements coming in through the Environment Bill.