Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of biodiversity net gain on the cost of housebuilding.

Mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain was introduced by the previous government through the Environment Act 2021. To support this, an impact assessment was undertaken in 2019 estimating the overall assessed cost of biodiversity net gain to developers and the effect on developable land prices. No subsequent assessment has been made under the current government.