Key requirements for Natural England's Environmental Delivery Plan under the Planning and Infrastructure Bill

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill introduces a new clause 48 which outlines a new type of plan that will be established under the bill. 

An Environmental Delivery Plan (EDP) will be drafted by Natural England, a non-departmental public body that is responsible for protecting England’s natural environment, or another designated delivery body - which will set out the strategic conservation measures that will be taken to address the impacts that developments will have on protected sites. The EDP will also set out the amount of the Nature Restoration Levy to be paid by developers to Natural England. In this article we set out the series of requirements for the EDP under the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

Contents of the Environmental Delivery Plan 

Section 49 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill sets out the specific series of requirements of what an EDP must contain. The EDP should apply to a specific geographic area in England and must be set out in the EDP with an explanation as to why it has been chosen. This section applies only in England and will come into effect via future regulations.

The EDP may also include areas within this development area where the development is excluded from the provisions in the EDP. Where excluded, any development coming forward in this area would not benefit from access to the EDP.

Under section 7, a commencement date for the EDP must be specified whereby the conservation measures will come into force. The EDP must also include an end date which must be no later than 10 years following the commencement date. The reasoning for this is so that conservation measures start to be realised within a reasonable timeframe. 

Natural England must set out the expected cost of the conservation measures included in the EDP. This is the cost both over the relevant period or a longer period if the conservation measures will be in place beyond the end date. 

Conservation measures

Clause 50 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill introduces requirements for the EDP to identify and set out information on three of the key concepts to be dealt with. These need to include the environmental features likely to be affected, for example protected site/protected species.

Relevant environmental impact of development

Conservation measures needed to be put in place to address negative impacts and contribute to an overall improvement. 

EDPs must propose conservation measures that not only mitigate the environmental impact but also improve the condition of the affected site. In some cases, Natural England may approve conservation efforts that target the same type of feature in a different location if this yields better environmental outcomes. 

Conservation measures may also take the form of planning conditions, for example water efficiency standards or bat-sensitive lighting restrictions, which must comply with planning law. 
While inspectors retain discretion over these conditions, there is a presumption that they will adopt those outlined in the EDP, particularly where developers voluntarily opt into using one. Failure to apply such conditions may prevent reliance on the EDP to fulfil environmental obligations. 

Example 

An example of where an EDP may be appropriate will be where the development area covers a river catchment and the environmental impact may be phosphate pollution from 1,000 proposed homes. The EDP here would need to identify sufficient conservation measures to both address the expected nutrient pollution from the development and also ensure that the environment is in a better condition that in would have been in a scenario where the conservation measures set out in the EDP went ahead.

Likely conservation measures contained in an EDP reflecting this situation would be the building of a wetland and a requirement for local authorities to apply a condition on all planning permissions that requires houses to include septic tanks. 

Conclusion

Whilst the EDP framework has been branded by the government as a 'win-win' for development and nature, challenges may arise around the complexity of implementation which may cause potential delays in planning process. The presumption to adopt EDP conditions could also create uncertainty for developers.  

For more information please contact our planning and infrastructure consenting team.