\n Warrington Borough Council has registered the sites\u2014Bewsey Tip and Gatewarth Tip, both designated as Local Wildlife Sites\u2014as habitat banks on Natural England\u2019s Biodiversity Gain Site Register.\n<\/p>\n
\n Spanning more than 12 hectares, they will now generate Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) units, which developers can purchase to offset unavoidable biodiversity losses from development projects.\n<\/p>\n
\n Councillor Una Gillham, the council\u2019s cabinet member for climate change, sustainability and the environment, said: “The registration of these habitat banks marks an important milestone for Warrington.\n<\/p>\n
\n “For the first time, developers can invest in biodiversity projects right here in the borough, helping to create and improve habitats that will benefit wildlife for decades to come.\n<\/p>\n
\n “This is a fantastic opportunity to enhance Warrington\u2019s biodiversity, improve a locally scarce habitat type and enrich residents\u2019 lives by bringing people closer to nature.\n<\/p>\n
\n “By creating habitat banks within the borough, we can ensure that investment from Biodiversity Net Gain supports local wildlife and local communities, helping us deliver lasting environmental benefits for future generations.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Introduced by the Environment Act 2021, the Biodiversity Net Gain requirement mandates that most new developments result in a minimum 10 per cent increase in biodiversity.\n<\/p>\n
\n If this cannot be achieved on-site, developers can purchase BNG units from registered habitat banks.\n<\/p>\n
\n The units now available at Bewsey Tip and Gatewarth Tip are classified as Neutral Grassland BNG units.\n<\/p>\n
\n Funds from their sale will be ringfenced for 30 years of ecologist-led habitat enhancement, management, and monitoring to maximise biodiversity outcomes at the sites.\n<\/p>\n
\n Before this registration, Warrington had no public or private habitat banks, and developers were often required to purchase BNG units from outside the borough.\n<\/p>\n
\n This meant both biodiversity gains and long-term investment were lost to other areas.\n<\/p>\n
\n Developers interested in purchasing BNG units can contact the council by emailing bng@warrington.gov.uk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warrington Borough Council has registered the sites\u2014Bewsey Tip and Gatewarth Tip, both designated as Local Wildlife Sites\u2014as habitat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-713278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}