There has been little information on costs and frequency for LPA monitoring of BNG habitat sites which is an important part of a budget when considering a BNG project.
The guiding principle is that an LPA should charge the landowner/manager no more than the actual costs for doing this. This cannot be a profit-making exercise.
As more and more of our clients and others establish habitat banks across the country, we have however seen a wide a range of approaches and costs. These are not fixed indefinitely and are sure to be reviewed especially as there are an increasing number of Responsible Bodies (now 13) with most providing private sector charging rates which adds evidence to actual costs which we believe are likely to decrease.
Costing methods, in most cases to date are based on either area or number of biodiversity units produced. For example, North Yorks Council and South Derbyshire District Council have six size categories and prices £2,522 – £9,289 and £3,508.85 – 20,485.61 respectively. In both cases, for sites over 40 ha bespoke pricing is necessary. Some have only three size categories with no bespoke pricing for sites over 40 ha, including Torridge District Council and Exmoor National Park with prices of £4,131.08 – 6,022.86.
Certain LPAs are charging a fixed rate per site or number of units but this is only for assessment of reports provided to them without their own site visit. Examples of this system include the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (£5,000) and the New Forest District Council (£4,980). In the case of New Forest District Council the cost may be increased if a higher inspection time is required.
Calderdale Council and Wyre Forest District Council are charging a fixed rate per biodiversity unit, £2,000 and £750 per unit respectively although this tends to be for onsite creation rather than offsite mitigation. Leeds City Council and Bradford Council propose two categories of costing. A price of £5,000 for sites with more than 10 units. £3,000 for Leeds City Council (no site visit) and £2,000 for Bradford Council if a site has less than 10 units. Additional one-off payments may be required such as for damage or loss of irreplaceable habitat
As for frequency of site visits, LPAs appear to want between five and seven site visits over the 30-year period, apart from Buckinghamshire County Council who propose 10 visits. The majority plan on conducting five yearly visits from the 5th year of the habitat creation. LPAs such as Devon County Council plan on conducting an extra site visit at an unspecified time. Of course this will vary depending on what habitat is involved and can be driven by the ecological needs or lack of need.
We suspect that these costs will come down, as over estimation will be common without the experience of practice.
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