To enable the Council to consider the recommendation of the Planning Committee that future decisions for approval and/or entering into a Section 106 legal agreement with landowners for the establishment of Habitat Banks, along with any associated decisions around enforcement against non-compliance, should be delegated to the Head of Planning and Building Control.

Council considered a reference report (A.4) from the Planning Committee which enabled Council to consider the recommendations of the Planning Committee that future decisions for approval and/or entering into a Section 106 legal agreement with landowners for the establishment of Habitat Banks, along with associated decisions around enforcement against non-compliance, should be delegated to the Head of Planning and Building Control.

It was reported that, on 8 July 2025, the Planning Committee had considered a report of the Corporate Director (Planning and Community) that had previously gone to Cabinet in October 2024 under the Portfolio Holder responsible for Housing and Planning seeking Cabinet’s agreement to adopt a policy statement on “Biodiversity Net Gain” (BNG) to serve as the Council’s interim corporate position on the subject, ahead of detailed consideration as part of the forthcoming Local Plan review.

The policy as adopted for interim use was now applicable in the determination of planning applications and in the consideration of proposals for ‘Habitat Banks’. Habitat Banks were parcels of land where habitats had been created or enhanced, in advance, to provide an uplift of biodiversity units. Those surplus biodiversity units could then be sold to developers to meet their BNG requirements ‘off-site’. In order to sell off-site biodiversity units, there were a number of legislative criteria that must be met; and whilst the establishment of a Habitat Bank had not required planning permission, in many cases it would have required landowners to enter into a Section 106 legal agreement with the Council alongside a formal registration process with Natural England.

As well as agreeing to the adoption of the policy statement, the Cabinet had resolved to invite the Planning Committee, at its earliest convenience, to consider and determine how it would exercise its power in respect of Council decisions on entering into legal agreements with landowners under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for the purposes of setting up Habitat Banks, guided by the aforementioned policy and the advice of Officers – including the extent to which the Committee deemed it appropriate for such decision-making powers to be delegated to Officers; and any arrangements for public consultation on specific proposals. That was because this was a fairly new area of work with explicit arrangements set out in the Council’s Constitution in respect of delegated powers and no legislative requirements around public consultation.

It had been recommended by Officers to the Planning Committee that the consideration, approval and entering into Section 106 agreements with landowners for the establishment of Habitat Banks should be delegated to the Head of Planning and Building Control, along with decisions around future enforcement action against non-compliance. If agreed, it was recommended those arrangements should be put forward for consideration, as part of a future review of the Council’s Constitution, as to whether explicit amendments to the Delegated Powers section of Constitution or the terms of reference of the Planning Committee were required.

It had been also recommended by Officers to the Planning Committee that no specific requirements for public or other stakeholder consultation on Habitat Banks proposals needed to be put in place, apart from technical consultation with suitably qualified ecologists for the purpose of seeking their professional advice.

It was important to emphasise that the establishment of a Habitat Bank was a different and separate concept and process from the determination of planning application for new development that, in many cases, had a requirement to address Biodiversity Net Gain (and for which existing constitutional arrangements for the Planning Committee and appropriate delegation to Officers already, along with, statutory consultation requirements applied).

The Planning Committee’s decision on the matter was set out within the Background section of the Officer report (A.4).

It was moved by Councillor Fowler, seconded by Councillor White and:-

RESOLVED that Council approves that:-

a)    future decisions for approval and/or entering into a Section 106 legal agreement with landowners for the establishment of Habitat Banks, along with any associated decisions around enforcement against non-compliance, will be delegated to the Head of Planning and Building Control; and

b)    the Monitoring Officer be authorised to make any specific wording changes that need to be made to either the Planning Committee’s Terms of Reference or to Part 3 (Delegated Powers) of the Council’s Constitution.