Basingstoke and Deane LPA BNG

Basingstoke and Deane takes in the town of Basingstoke, Tadley and Whitchurch, and a wide spread of chalk downland, river valleys and heath. About a third of the borough’s countryside lies within the North Wessex Downs, and the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area reaches its north-east corner. The borough has 20 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, among them Pamber Forest and Silchester Common near Tadley, Watership Down and Highclere Park, along with one National Nature Reserve and 11 local nature reserves. The River Test rises near Overton and runs through Whitchurch, and the council counts three chalk stream corridors: the Test, the headwaters of the Itchen and the Loddon.

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Biodiversity Net Gain became a legal requirement for major developments in England on 12 February 2024, and for small sites on 2 April 2024. Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council applies the 10% minimum under Local Plan policy EM4, which seeks no net loss and a net gain where possible, and the draft Local Plan Update (consulted on from January to March 2024) proposes at least 10% in policy ENV6. The council has not adopted a higher figure. Between February 2024 and December 2025 it approved 10 biodiversity gain plans with an average gain of 20.24%, and it follows the gain hierarchy: on site first, then habitat banks or developer-led off-site habitat, with statutory credits as a last resort.

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Off-site supply is starting to appear locally. In September 2025 the council signed off its first private habitat bank, Old Rectory Farm at Kingsclere, 4.5 hectares generating 19.14 biodiversity units, and a second 12-hectare bank could deliver 74.5 units. Nutrient neutrality is the other constraint. The southern two-thirds of the borough, mostly chalk downland, forms part of the Test and Itchen catchment, and developments whose wastewater discharges there must show nutrient neutrality, a requirement that dates from Natural England’s 2019 advice on the Solent.