Thanks to funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, CIEEM in collaboration with Balfour Beatty, the University of Oxford and the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), has undertaken research to determine if, and how, wellbeing should be incorporated more directly into the UK industry’s good practice approach to BNG as outlined in the international  ‘People Principles’ originally set out in No Net Loss and BNG (Bull et al, 2018). The report also explores the challenges of doing so and how these might be overcome. Supplementary reports look in depth at how governments and organisations define wellbeing, the extent to which wellbeing policies exist and are used in local planning policies (See here for examples of wellbeing requirements for planning applications), what science says about wellbeing and the full consultation report.

The recommendations arising from the scoping study explore highlight how we need to encourage local planning authorities and developers/consultancies to harness expertise in social impact assessment who can work alongside ecologists to better understand the impacts and opportunities for wellbeing arising from BNG.