I am researching how best for our authority to implement biodiversity
offsetting to support our draft net gain policy. I've found examples
of authorities who have used their own land for offsetting sites but
we are a district authority with very little land which would be
appropriate for this use. Instead I've been looking at the possibility
of commissioning a third party to help us set up a habitat bank and
act as a broker between developers wanting to offset loses and
landowners of offsetting sites. I was wondering if anyone has any
experience of doing this or undertaking the tasks in-house and if so
could you share how you went about it? For example, how do you find
willing landowners for offsetting sites? How do you fund the initial
set up of a habitat bank? Also, I have only come across Environment
Bank so far but is anyone aware of any other organisations that could
do this type of work? And finally, if you use a broker is there a
retainer or contract between the authority and broker for the life of
the habitat bank?
Any advice would be gratefully received!
