North Somerset LPA BNG

North Somerset is a unitary authority of about 375 square kilometres on the Severn Estuary, with Weston-super-Mare, Portishead, Clevedon and Nailsea as its main towns. On its northern edge, Leigh Woods National Nature Reserve covers 140 hectares on the south-west side of the Avon Gorge and is one of the most important sites in Britain for whitebeams, with at least nine native Sorbus species. The Gordano Valley National Nature Reserve (a 162-hectare SSSI of wet meadows and ditches) and Weston Moor sit alongside the North Somerset Levels, where Tickenham, Nailsea and Kenn Moors cover 986 hectares, 129 of them SSSI. In the south the district takes in part of the Mendip Hills National Landscape, including Burrington Combe and Dolebury Warren, both SSSIs, within the North Somerset and Mendip Bats Special Area of Conservation.

​

Biodiversity Net Gain became a legal requirement for major developments in England on 12 February 2024, and for small sites on 2 April 2024. North Somerset Council lists its Biodiversity Supplementary Planning Document as adopted in January 2024. It requires at least 10% and sets a sequence for developers: on site first, then payment to the council’s habitat banking vehicle, offset land the applicant buys, third-party habitat brokers, and statutory credits from the national register. Until the new plan is adopted, Core Strategy Policy CS4 is the policy hook. The council submitted its Local Plan 2041, which includes a biodiversity net gain policy (DP36), for examination on 22 May 2026.

​

Off-site supply is partly in the council’s own hands. The council says it is establishing a Habitat Banking Vehicle, and a March 2023 report proposed a pilot on six council sites totalling 76 hectares at Weston-super-Mare, Portishead and Clevedon, with potential for 252 biodiversity units. The district is also covered by the West of England Local Nature Recovery Strategy, launched in November 2024, and an updated North Somerset and Mendip Bats SAC planning document was published in 2026 to replace the 2018 version. North Somerset does not appear in Natural England’s nutrient neutrality catchment tables.