Statutory Instrument 2026/494 makes a focused but important change to the biodiversity net gain system. The Biodiversity Gain Site Register (Amendment) Regulations 2026 were made on 5 May 2026, laid before Parliament on 6 May 2026 and come into force on 29 May 2026. According to the instrument signed by Defra minister Mary Creagh, the purpose is to amend the 2024 register rules so that they work not only for developments with planning permission, but also for schemes authorised through development consent under the Planning Act 2008.
The biodiversity gain site register is the formal record for land used to deliver off-site habitat enhancement. Under the Biodiversity Gain Site Register Regulations 2024, much of the drafting was framed around planning permission under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. That left a practical gap for major infrastructure projects proceeding through the Planning Act 2008 route. This amendment closes that gap by recognising development consent alongside planning permission across the register regime.
Regulation 3 inserts three definitions into regulation 2 of the 2024 Regulations: 'biodiversity gain site', 'development' and 'development consent'. The new definition of a biodiversity gain site is detailed. It covers land subject to a conservation covenant or planning obligation requiring habitat enhancement, where the enhancement must then be maintained for at least 30 years after the works are completed and made available for allocation to one or more developments. The Explanatory Note states that, for the purposes of the 2024 Regulations, this inserted definition replaces the section 100 Environment Act 2021 definition. That point is technical but significant, because it gives the register its own operative wording for both planning permission cases and development consent cases.
Regulation 4 amends the eligibility rule in regulation 6 of the 2024 Regulations. Land can now be included on the register where the linked development has development consent under the Planning Act 2008, not only where it has planning permission under the 1990 Act. Regulation 5 makes the matching change to application content. Where an application to register land involves allocation of habitat enhancement, the paperwork may now refer to a development consented scheme and to Schedule 2A to the Planning Act 2008, alongside the existing references to Schedule 7A to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
The amendment also deals with land that is already on the register. Regulations 6 and 7 change the post-registration process so that habitat enhancement can later be allocated to a development with development consent. In practical terms, that means the register can now support the full administrative sequence for Planning Act projects: entry of eligible land, provision of the correct application details, and later recording of which habitat enhancement has been allocated to which consented development.
In plain English, the instrument does not introduce a new biodiversity standard or a new category of environmental duty. Its main effect is to make sure the existing register can operate properly for the infrastructure consenting route as well as the conventional planning route. For promoters of major schemes, landowners offering off-site units, and advisers preparing conservation covenants or planning obligations, the immediate effect is greater legal clarity. Applications and allocations can now refer expressly to development consent, rather than trying to fit Planning Act projects into drafting written for ordinary planning permissions.
The Regulations extend to England and Wales, but the instrument is framed under the headings 'Environmental Protection, England' and 'Infrastructure Planning, England'. The Secretary of State made the instrument using powers in sections 100, 142 and 143 of the Environment Act 2021. Defra's Explanatory Note says no full impact assessment has been produced because no, or no significant, effect on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen. That points to a narrowly drawn legal amendment rather than a wider policy change, even though the drafting update is material for projects moving through the development consent system.
From 29 May 2026, practitioners working on biodiversity net gain for Planning Act 2008 schemes will need to review application forms, habitat allocation statements and supporting agreements against the amended wording. The key change is now explicit on the face of the Regulations: development consent can be used within the biodiversity gain site register framework. For the wider policy picture, the amendment brings the register into closer alignment with the two main routes through the English planning system. Off-site biodiversity delivery can now be recorded through legislation that recognises both planning permission and development consent in terms.