Biodiversity Duty report

1.1The Enhanced Biodiversity Duty (EBD) was introduced under the Environment Act (2021). It requires all public authorities in England to consider how they can actively conserve and enhance biodiversity. Defra requires all Local Authorities to publish a report on the actions they have taken, during the reporting period, and plan to take over the next five years to meet the EBD. To meet the statutory requirements, the Council's first Biodiversity Duty Report is due within 12 weeks from the 1st of January 2026 (i.e. 26th March 2026) and will continue in five-year cycles.

1.2As a public authority and local planning authority, the duty legally requires Great Yarmouth Borough Council (GYBC) to publish a Biodiversity Duty report that provides the following information:

• a summary of the actions taken to comply with the biodiversity duty during the first reporting period
• how the authority plans to comply with the biodiversity duty in the following five years (to 2030)
• the actions the authority has carried out to meet Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) obligations
• details of BNG resulting, or expected to result, from approved biodiversity gain plans
• how the authority plans to meet BNG obligations in the next reporting period
• any other information considered appropriate

1.3Having set out the legal and national policy context in Section 2, Section 3 of this report describes the Council's approach to conserving and enhancing biodiversity during the reporting period (1 January 2022 to 31 December 2025), including its strategies, policies, objectives and actions. Section 3 outlines the Council's planned future actions in relation to the biodiversity duty, and Section 4 provides monitoring information on Biodiversity matters.