Today, The Times reported EFG’s work with investors Inspired Villages. EFG is looking at how it can build long-term relationships with institutional organisations and its members in the natural capital sector.
The Environmental Farmers Group (EFG), which operates across England and includes more than 100 farmers covering more than 45,000 hectares, is one of the collectives that provide developers such as Inspired Villages with broader-reach access to biodiversity net-gain offsets, according to Stuart Garnett, planning director at Inspired Villages.
However, a lack of clarity over when regulation will be in place has limited how much the likes of the EFG can prepare to work with developers. The biodiversity net gain deadline of January is a delay on the original target of last month. The Home Builders Federation (HBF), which represents private developers responsible for delivering 80 per cent of UK homes built each year, said the delay was government-driven.
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Rob Shepherd, managing partner of Allenford Farms and a member of the EFG, agreed that a lack of government clarity was stalling progress: “It’s frustrating when you’ve spent so much time developing a model around a policy when they change their mind … I think a lot of it is just political expediency.”