Planning a development in Yorkshire? ProHort provides Biodiversity Net Gain assessments, habitat surveys, statutory metric calculations and Biodiversity Gain Plan support for developers, architects, planning consultants and landowners. We help establish your site’s biodiversity value and identify the information and ecological measures needed to support your planning proposals.
From the Pennine valleys and Yorkshire Dales to urban regeneration sites, the Humber region and the North York Moors, our approach considers the habitats and planning circumstances specific to your development.
Calls answered in 2 rings, emails replied to within the hour.
Clear guidance before you commit.
Working in partnership with clients to ensure planning approval first time
Industry Leading Standard
We stay with you from first call through to submission.
Yorkshire is covered by several Local Nature Recovery Strategy areas rather than one single county-wide strategy.
Published strategies include:
North Yorkshire and York: Led by North Yorkshire Council.
West Yorkshire: Led by West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
Hull and East Yorkshire: Led by East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
South Yorkshire: Led by South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, with the strategy progressing through its final approval and publication process.
These strategies identify local priorities, habitats and opportunities for nature recovery. They can help inform where habitat creation and enhancement may have the greatest wider value.
For developers, this provides useful context when considering the location and type of biodiversity improvements proposed for a project. However, an LNRS does not replace the statutory biodiversity metric, a site-specific habitat assessment or the applicable planning requirements. Its actions are not themselves legally binding.
The relevant strategy and planning context will depend on where your development is located.
We support projects across:
Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Halifax, Castleford, Dewsbury, Keighley, Pontefract and surrounding areas.
A Biodiversity Net Gain assessment establishes the biodiversity value of a development site before work takes place and calculates how the proposed development is expected to affect that value.
For developments subject to the statutory BNG framework, the assessment helps demonstrate the existing habitat baseline and establish how the required biodiversity gain can be achieved. ProHort can provide the ecological information and calculations needed to inform your development proposals.
Our BNG assessment work can include:
Habitat surveys and mapping: Identifying and mapping the habitats present within the relevant site boundary using an appropriate habitat classification approach.
Habitat condition assessments: Evaluating the condition of habitat parcels against the relevant criteria.
Statutory BNG metric calculations: Calculating the biodiversity value of existing habitats and modelling the proposed habitat losses, retention, creation and enhancement.
Biodiversity Net Gain reporting: Presenting the baseline findings, metric results and relevant recommendations in a clear report.
Biodiversity enhancement advice: Identifying opportunities to avoid habitat loss, retain valuable features and improve biodiversity through the development design.
A reliable BNG assessment needs to reflect what is actually present on the site. Land that appears to be ordinary grassland, an unmanaged field edge or previously developed ground may contain habitats of greater ecological value than initially expected.
By identifying these features early, developers and design teams can make better-informed decisions about site layout, habitat retention and the most appropriate route towards achieving biodiversity gain.
Whether you are at feasibility stage or preparing a planning application, our team can help you understand the ecological information needed for your Yorkshire BNG assessment.
A Biodiversity Gain Plan is a separate statutory planning document from the initial BNG assessment. Where the statutory biodiversity gain condition applies, the plan must be approved by the relevant Local Planning Authority before development begins.
While the BNG assessment establishes the site’s habitat baseline and calculates biodiversity value, the Biodiversity Gain Plan explains how the development will meet its biodiversity gain objective.
ProHort provides Biodiversity Gain Plan services in Yorkshire, helping project teams prepare the information needed to demonstrate how the required biodiversity improvements will be delivered and secured.
Depending on the development, this can include:
Pre-development biodiversity value: Setting out the site’s relevant habitat baseline and the metric calculation used to establish its biodiversity value.
Habitat retention and enhancement: Explaining which existing habitats will be retained, enhanced or affected by the proposals.
Habitat creation proposals: Detailing the new habitats proposed as part of the development and their expected biodiversity contribution.
Off-site biodiversity gains: Including relevant information about registered off-site gains where these are being used to address a biodiversity unit shortfall.
Supporting management information: Incorporating relevant habitat management and monitoring proposals where required.
Biodiversity Gain Plan documentation: Bringing the relevant information together for submission to the planning authority responsible for approving the plan.
The correct information will depend on the development, its planning permission, the biodiversity gain condition and the proposed approach to delivering biodiversity improvements.
Receiving planning permission does not necessarily mean that development can begin immediately. Where the statutory biodiversity gain condition applies, the Biodiversity Gain Plan must be approved before development starts.
This is an important stage of Yorkshire BNG condition discharge. The relevant planning authority will consider whether the proposed approach, supporting metric information and arrangements for securing biodiversity gains satisfy the applicable requirements.
Preparing the plan with the approved development proposals and supporting ecological information in mind can help identify missing details before submission.
ProHort can support developers and planning teams with the preparation of their Biodiversity Gain Plan for development in Yorkshire, helping bring the relevant ecological and planning information together.
Yorkshire covers a wide range of landscapes and ecological environments. The habitats found on a development site in the Pennines may be very different from those within a city-centre regeneration scheme, a coastal location or an agricultural site in East Yorkshire.
Understanding these differences is important when establishing a reliable habitat baseline and considering realistic biodiversity enhancement opportunities.
The Yorkshire Dales contain distinctive habitats including limestone grassland, species-rich meadows, blanket bog and woodland. These habitats can support valuable plant and wildlife communities and should be accurately identified when assessing sites in the surrounding area.
The North York Moors feature extensive heather moorland, woodland, river valleys and coastal habitats. These landscapes provide important ecological context for developments across North Yorkshire, particularly when considering existing habitat condition and opportunities for enhancement.
West Yorkshire includes urban centres, former industrial sites, canals and river corridors such as the Aire and Calder. Brownfield and regeneration sites should not automatically be assumed to have low biodiversity value, as they may support established grassland, scrub, trees and other habitats.
The Humber Estuary and surrounding areas contain important wetland, estuarine and floodplain habitats, alongside agricultural landscapes. Developments in these locations may need to consider existing water-associated habitats and their wider ecological connections.
South Yorkshire combines urban and former industrial areas with woodland, farmland, river corridors and landscapes towards the Peak District. Features such as the River Don and its tributaries contribute to the region’s wider ecological network and may provide opportunities for habitat enhancement.
Whether you need an initial Biodiversity Net Gain assessment, a habitat baseline survey, a statutory metric calculation or support with a Biodiversity Gain Plan, ProHort can help you understand the ecological requirements of your development.
If you are looking for BNG assessment support or Biodiversity Gain Plan consultants in Yorkshire, speak to our team about your site and the next steps for your project.
The relevant Local Nature Recovery Strategy depends on the location of your site. Yorkshire is covered by separate strategy areas, including North Yorkshire and York, West Yorkshire, Hull and East Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire.
These strategies identify local priorities and opportunities for nature recovery. They can provide useful context when considering habitat creation and enhancement, but they do not replace the statutory BNG assessment or determine the requirements of an individual planning application.
The same statutory BNG framework applies where a development is within scope, but the ecological characteristics of the site can affect its assessment.
For example, sites in or around the Yorkshire Dales may contain limestone grassland, species-rich meadows, woodland or upland habitats. Sites near the North York Moors may include heathland, moorland, woodland or wetland features.
These habitats need to be identified and assessed using appropriate ecological information and the applicable statutory metric. The site’s location alone does not determine its biodiversity value.
Yes. Previously developed land can support a range of habitats, including grassland, scrub, trees, ponds and other established vegetation.
Some brownfield habitats may have greater ecological value than their appearance or previous use might suggest. A site-specific assessment is therefore important to establish which habitats are present, assess their condition and calculate their biodiversity value accurately.
This is particularly relevant to regeneration and redevelopment projects across urban areas such as Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and Wakefield.
River corridors, canals and floodplain areas can contain a range of habitats, including rivers and streams, marginal vegetation, wet grassland, scrub and woodland.
Features associated with waterways such as the Aire, Calder, Wharfe, Don and Humber need to be considered where they fall within the relevant assessment area or may be affected by the development.
Accurate habitat mapping and classification are important because the type, condition and location of habitats can influence the statutory metric calculation and the opportunities for biodiversity enhancement.
Eligible registered off-site biodiversity gains may contribute towards a development’s BNG requirements, subject to the biodiversity gain hierarchy, statutory rules and applicable spatial risk requirements.
The fact that a unit is located somewhere within Yorkshire does not automatically mean it is suitable for every development in the region. Its location, habitat type, registration and relationship to the development must be considered when calculating and securing the required biodiversity gain.
Where an on-site shortfall remains, the appropriate off-site options should be assessed before considering statutory biodiversity credits, which are a separate and last-resort mechanism.
Where the statutory biodiversity gain condition applies, the Biodiversity Gain Plan must be approved by the relevant Local Planning Authority before development begins.
The plan follows the grant of planning permission and explains how the development will meet its biodiversity gain objective. It should include the relevant statutory metric calculation and details of the proposed approach to delivering and securing biodiversity gains.
The precise submission requirements will depend on the development, its planning circumstances and any relevant information requirements set by the planning authority.
