• Tech start-up Joe's Blooms has today launched the world's first digital tool designed to help small site developers comply with new biodiversity net gain (BNG) laws. 

• With BNG regulations finalised in February, the Biodiversity Net Gain Tool has been developed in partnership with Planning Portal and the support of the National Federation of Builders.

• It produces all the site-specific data and legal documents small developers need to meet BNG objectives and secure planning permission. 

• The digital solution launches as over a million SME developers in England will start to comply with the new BNG laws from April 2. 

Tech start-up Joe's Blooms has today launched the world's first digital tool to help SME developers comply with biodiversity net gain (BNG) laws, ahead of the new policy becoming mandatory for small sites on April 2. 

The Biodiversity Net Gain Tool streamlines the BNG process, producing all the site-specific data and legal documents developers of small sites need to secure planning permission under the scheme in minutes.

The tool produces a Biodiversity Gain Plan (BGP) and all the supplementary documents needed to submit a planning application to a Local Planning Authority (LPA), including a completed Biodiversity Metric.

Developed in partnership with Planning Portal, UKGBC, and UKHAB, the digital solution launches ahead of over 29,000 planning applications a month coming under BNG laws from April 2. The tool will be made available on Planning Portal as developers go through the application process. 

The tool is designed to help property developers, contractors, and planners save time and money by providing a digital solution, removing the need for small developers to have to delay projects to comply with the new requirements.

BNG is a first-of-its-kind planning policy that requires developers to invest in measures that increase the amount of plants and wildlife in the local area by 10% to secure planning permission. 

Research by Joe's Blooms shows that BNG will create over 23,500 football pitches worth of natural habitat each year, and this green space will in turn absorb up to 650,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually – the equivalent of nearly 200,000 round trip flights from London to New York.

Oliver Lewis, CEO and founder of Joe's Blooms, said: "As an industry leading solution, the BNG Tool is designed to help developers boost biodiversity and secure planning permission at a fraction of the cost – with no need to delay things or spend thousands on expensive external consultants. With the support of our partners including Planning Portal, we've built an innovative, hassle free toolkit that will guide applications through the full BNG process, ensuring they meet all the legal requirements to submit their planning application and enhance their local environment."

Scott Alford, Head of Business Development at Planning Portal, added: "We are very pleased to see the release of Joe's Blooms' comprehensive Biodiversity Net Gain tool. Over the last three years, Planning Portal has worked in partnership with Joe's Blooms to help ensure all applicants have a trusted tool that will allow them to understand and meet their BNG responsibilities, for every project up and down the country."

Rico Wojtulewicz, Head of Policy and Market Insight at the National Federation of Builders, added: "We wholeheartedly welcome this simple and affordable solution that allows small sites to complete BNG quickly and get back to building the homes and infrastructure we need."