Low Farm Habitat Bank · BGS-260626001

The larger of the two banks, and the one carrying the high and very high bands.

Kettleby, Phase 1

Passed by the council. Lodged with Natural England for the biodiversity gain sites register, waiting on confirmation.

Kettleby, Phase 2

Going in to the council now and under discussion with them. Not for sale yet.

What that means for you

We will quote today, and are able to allocate units on the register immediately. We can also reserve units for you on our site if you are not yet ready to purchase, subject to a refundable deposit. What is for sale →

Developing in North Lincolnshire or West Lindsey, or anywhere in the Lincolnshire Wolds or the Central Lincolnshire Vale

Our units count in full. Ring us.

A neighbouring authority or character area

Discounted to 0.75, but frequently still the better buy once the sums are done. Worth a call.

Anywhere else in England

Whilst we would be more than happy to supply you, you would need twice as many of our units as your shortfall. Buy closer to home — you will spend less. Here is why →

Grassland

The bulk of both banks. Wildflower and tussocky swards at Kettleby, and a very large block of species-rich grassland at Low Farm, all created out of arable that was not earning its keep.

Meadow

Low Farm carries restored lowland meadow — very high distinctiveness, the top band in the metric, and the rarest thing either of us has.

Woodland

New broadleaved woodland at Kettleby, and mature broadleaved woodland at Low Farm that was already there and is being brought back into good condition. High distinctiveness.

Scrub

Mixed scrub on both, in blocks and along margins rather than as one solid stand.

Hedgerow

Species-rich native hedgerow on both, much of it planted with trees in it, which is what lifts hedgerow into the high band.

Water

An enhanced stretch of priority habitat river at Kettleby, and new ponds at Low Farm. The river gain is small — say so early if a watercourse is the bulk of your shortfall.

Coming forward

A further block at Kettleby is with the council now. It brings a habitat neither farm has today. Where it has got to →

The sites in detail

Kettleby, Phases 1 and 2 →  |  Low Farm Habitat Bank →

Farmed by

Anthony Turnbull, Habitat Networks Ltd — and Ben Jackson.

What it was

Kettleby: combinable cropping on ground that never yielded in a dry spring. Low Farm: cereal ground, margins and rough grass — and woodland that was already there.

Habitats

Kettleby: wildflower and tussocky grassland, mixed scrub, broadleaved woodland, species-rich hedgerow, and an enhanced stretch of priority habitat river. Low Farm: species-rich grassland, lowland meadow, restored broadleaved woodland, scrub, ponds, rural trees and hedgerow with trees.

Highest band reached

Kettleby: medium. Low Farm: very high, on the restored lowland meadow.

Where each stands

Low Farm is on the biodiversity gain sites register — BGS-260626001. Kettleby Phase 1 is passed by the council and lodged with Natural England, waiting on confirmation. Phase 2 is the one still in front of the council.

The same way of securing it

Both banks are secured by Section 106 — Kettleby with North Lincolnshire Council, Low Farm approved by North Lincolnshire and West Lindsey.

The same way of counting

Both baselines were surveyed in the botanical season by a chartered ecologist and both run through the statutory metric. Different practices, same method, and both sets of workings go to any buyer who asks.

Overlapping character areas

Kettleby sits in the Lincolnshire Wolds. Low Farm spans the Wolds and the Central Lincolnshire Vale. Between them the two banks reach full value across a noticeably wider area than either would alone. What that means for you →

The same term

Both funded and secured to 30 years from first sale, with monitoring in years 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30.

Next door to each other

The two farms very nearly adjoin. A buyer taking units from both is not buying into two ends of the county — it is one stretch of country, walked in an afternoon.

Every distinctiveness band

Between them the two farms reach low, medium, high and very high. Most single banks offer one band, which is why a mixed shortfall usually means two unconnected suppliers and two sets of paperwork.

Depth in the common types

Both hold neutral grassland, scrub and species-rich hedgerow, and Low Farm holds a great deal of it. If one runs short mid-year the other can cover it, which matters when a scheme slips a season.

Two authorities, not one

Kettleby Phase 1 sits in North Lincolnshire. Low Farm, and the block still in front of the council, run across into West Lindsey. A developer in either district gets full-value units from us. The multiplier, worked through →

One point of contact

You ring one number. We work out between us which bank suits your metric best, including when the answer is the other one.

Two authorities

Phase 2 straddles West Lindsey District Council and North Lincolnshire Council, where Phase 1 sits in North Lincolnshire alone.

Where it is

Going in to the council, and under discussion with them — the same review Phase 1 came through.

Then what

Their comments, the management plan, the Section 106, and registration. The route Phase 1 has already been down.

How firm the figures are

They come from the metric as drafted and will move if the council asks for changes — Phase 1’s did. Indicative only; do not commit a scheme to them.

Local planning authority

North Lincolnshire Council

National Character Area

NCA 43, Lincolnshire Wolds

Register reference

BGS-000000000

Where Phase 1 stands

Passed by North Lincolnshire Council. Lodged with Natural England for the biodiversity gain sites register; we are waiting on confirmation, and units cannot be allocated to a scheme until it lands. No date has been given for it.

Legal mechanism

Section 106 planning obligation with North Lincolnshire Council, binding the land for 30 years. What it obliges us to do →

Secured until

30 years from first sale

Owner, occupier and operator

Anthony Turnbull, Habitat Networks Ltd — freehold owner, farmer, and the party responsible for delivery

Baseline and metric by

ESL (Ecological Services) Ltd — Luke Hartley MCIEEM, approved by Dave Hughes MCIEEM. About the practice →

Monitoring

Years 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30, reported to the council and funded from unit sales

Summer 2024

Baseline survey and condition assessment, in the botanical season. Metric run, management plan drafted, Section 106 negotiated.

Autumn 2024

Species-rich chalk grassland mix drilled into a cultivated seedbed across the main body of the block.

Winter 2024–25

Scrub blocks planted on the steeper margins where the ground was hardest to farm. Existing hedge lines gapped up and taken out of the annual flail.

Spring 2025

The pond in the bottom corner re-profiled to hold water later into the summer.

Since

Establishment management — topping in the first year to knock back annual weeds and let the sown species get away.

The grassland

Cut and baled after the sward has set seed, with the date moved year to year on the ecologist's advice rather than fixed to the calendar.

The scrub

Left to thicken, with encroachment onto the grassland controlled so one habitat does not swallow the other.

The hedges

On a rotational cycle rather than cut every year, so a proportion always carries berries through the winter.

The pond

Margins kept open, scrub off the southern edge so it does not shade out.

What is not done

No fertiliser, no cultivation, and no spraying beyond spot treatment of injurious and invasive weeds where the plan allows it.

Very high distinctiveness

44.68 units. Lowland meadow. A very-high loss normally needs bespoke compensation agreed with the authority, so bring your ecologist early.

High distinctiveness, area

7.92 units. Genuinely scarce, and the reason a woodland loss is worth ringing about.

High distinctiveness, hedgerow

28.92 units. All of the hedgerow here is high distinctiveness.

Medium distinctiveness

Roughly 374 units. The bulk of it, in grassland and scrub.

Local planning authority

North Lincolnshire Council and West Lindsey District Council. The land straddles the boundary, so both authorities are party to the S106 agreement.

National Character Area

Parts sit in the Lincolnshire Wolds and parts in the Central Lincolnshire Vale. Greater Lincolnshire LNRS.

What it is registered as

The metric is run as an off-site provider — a habitat bank in its own right, not compensation attached to somebody’s development.

Where it stands

Fully registered — site reference BGS-260626001.

Owner, occupier and operator

Freehold owner, farmer, and the party responsible for delivery

Baseline and metric by

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and Surrey Wildlife Trust

Species-rich grassland

52.38 ha of other neutral grassland created on the cereal ground, targeted at good condition. Medium distinctiveness.

The woodland

7.36 ha of existing lowland mixed deciduous woodland managed up from moderate and poor condition to good. High distinctiveness. Some of it is formally identified in the local strategy.

Lowland meadow

3.57 ha, restored out of arable margins and rough grassland. This is very high distinctiveness.

The rest of the grassland

3.97 ha of existing neutral and modified grassland brought up to good condition rather than reseeded.

Scrub, ponds and trees

2.16 ha of mixed scrub, 0.16 ha of new ponds, and 46 rural trees planted out.

Hedgerow

3.13 km across thirteen new hedgerows, all of it species-rich native hedgerow with trees — high distinctiveness, targeted at good condition.

Sold — Low Farm

Ben has sold units from Phase 3 already. The figures, and what that leaves in the table above, go here once he confirms them.

Sold — Kettleby

Nothing sold or reserved yet.

Who we have dealt with

[Buyers and their schemes — named here only with their written agreement. A named buyer is worth ten adjectives.]

Check it yourself

Once a site is on the biodiversity gain sites register, its allocations are public. We would rather you verified a sale there than took this page’s word for it.

Very high

The restored lowland meadow at Low Farm, and the stretch of priority habitat river at Kettleby. Scarce, and a very high loss usually needs bespoke compensation agreed with your authority — bring your ecologist in early.

High

The restored woodland at Low Farm, and the hedgerow with trees on both farms. This is the deepest high-band pool we have.

Medium and low

Everything else, and it is the bulk of it. If your losses are medium or low, there is plenty here.

Coming forward

A further block at Kettleby is with the council now, and it brings a habitat type neither farm holds today. Where it has got to →

A typical chain

A landowner leases the ground and steps back. A fund holds the lease and wants a return on it. A special purpose vehicle is the entity actually named on the covenant. A responsible body holds that covenant. A broker or platform markets the units and takes a margin. A land management contractor does the physical work, on a contract that comes up for renewal.

Ours

Two farmers. Each owns his freehold, farms it, created the habitat, manages it with his own kit, is named on his own Section 106, and sells his own units. The only other party is the council, and it is on your side of the table rather than ours.

We own the freehold

Not a lease, not an option, not a management agreement. The land is on our titles and has been in both families for generations.

We farm it ourselves

The same people and the same machines that farm the rest of the holding cut, graze and manage the habitat. No contractor is being paid to visit twice a year. The farms themselves →

We created the habitat

We drilled it, planted it and re-profiled the water. When your ecologist asks what went in and when, the answer comes from the person who did it.

We carry the obligation

The Section 106 names us. There is no special purpose vehicle between you and the party responsible for delivery.

You get a clean break

Once units are allocated to your development, delivery is our liability for the full thirty years, funded from the sale. Nothing comes back to you.

The fund sells the portfolio

Your units end up owned by an investor who has never seen the site and bought it on a spreadsheet.

The vehicle is restructured

The entity named on the covenant is not the entity that sold to you, and nobody thought to tell you.

The management goes out to tender

Year eight, the contract is retendered and won on price. The people who know the site are replaced by people who do not.

The broker stops trading

You have a question in year fifteen and the number on your paperwork rings out.

Nobody has walked it in years

The most common failure of all, and the hardest to see from a document pack.

It does not mean we can cover England

We are two farms in one district. If you need units in six different authorities, a national provider is the right answer and we will tell you so on the first call.

It does not mean an account team

There is no portal, no dashboard and no 24-hour line. You get a mobile number, and in August it may well be answered from a tractor.

It does not mean cheaper

We are direct, which is a different claim. Sometimes it makes us cheaper, because there is no margin going to the middle of a chain. Sometimes a bigger operator with more stock will beat us, and we would rather you bought from them than overpaid us.

It does not mean easier

Our paperwork is the same paperwork. What changes is who is on the other end of it.

A conservation covenant

An agreement between the landowner and a private organisation designated by government as a “responsible body”. Quicker and cheaper to put in place, and perfectly valid.

A Section 106 planning obligation

An agreement with the local planning authority itself, under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Registered as a local land charge and binding on whoever owns the land afterwards.

Then, either way

The site goes on the national register, and each sale is recorded as an allocation against it, so the same unit cannot be sold to two developments.

Who is on the other side

Covenant: a private body, which your planning officer may never have dealt with. S106: the authority determining your application.

Who can enforce it

Covenant: the responsible body. S106: the council, using planning enforcement powers it already uses every week.

Who has already read it

Covenant: the landowner and the body. S106: the council’s legal team negotiated and signed it, and its ecology team saw the plan behind it.

If the other party ceases to exist

Covenant: responsible bodies are designated, and designation can be withdrawn; there are provisions for what follows, but it is a question worth asking over thirty years. S106: the council will still be there.

How your solicitor finds it

Covenant: disclosed by the seller and recorded against the title. S106: a local land charge, turned up by the standard searches your solicitor already does.

Cost and time to put in place

Covenant: weeks, and cheaper. S106: months, and dearer — which is exactly why fewer suppliers do it.

Create the habitat

Establish the habitats set out in the habitat management and monitoring plan, to the specification and on the parcels identified in it.

Manage it for thirty years

Carry out the management the plan requires — cutting, grazing, scrub control, hedgerow cycles — for the full term.

Monitor and report

Survey at the intervals the plan sets and send the reports to the council, whether they make comfortable reading or not.

Do nothing inconsistent

No cultivation, spraying, drainage, building or other operation on that land that would undermine the habitat.

Let them look

Allow the authority access to inspect and satisfy itself the obligations are being met.

Keep the allocations straight

Record which units are allocated to which development, so the same unit cannot be sold twice.

Put it right if it goes wrong

Where monitoring shows a parcel failing against its targets, carry out remedial work rather than simply report the shortfall.

You are not a party to it

The obligation is between us and the council. Buying units does not make you a party and does not pass any obligation to you.

No ongoing liability

Delivery, management, monitoring and cost stay with us for the full term, funded out of the unit price rather than billed to you later.

You get the document

A copy of the executed agreement, not a summary of it, with the register entry, the management plan and your allocation letter.

You can verify it without us

It is a local land charge and the site is on the national register. Your solicitor can confirm both independently of anything we tell you.

It cannot guarantee ecology

No legal document makes a sward establish in a dry spring. What it obliges is the management, the monitoring and remedial action when a parcel is off target — which is the most any mechanism can honestly offer.

It is not literally unalterable

Planning obligations can in principle be varied or discharged by agreement with the authority, or on application to it after five years, with a right of appeal. In practice an authority is not going to release land securing gain that has been sold to developments without a replacement — but it would be wrong to tell you the document can never be touched.

The practice

ESL (Ecological Services) Ltd

Author and surveyor

Luke Hartley MCIEEM

Approved by

Dave Hughes MCIEEM

Survey dates

10 April 2025, and 31 October 2025 for the river condition assessment

Document

Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan: Phase 1, Land at Kettleby — Final, March 2026

Low Farm is different hands

ESL did Kettleby. Low Farm’s baseline and metric were by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and Surrey Wildlife Trust. Same statutory method and the same published condition criteria either way.

Not ours

ESL is an independent consultancy with its own clients, developers among them. It is not employed by either farm and holds no interest in the units.

Paid for work, not outcome

Professional fees for the survey and the plan. No commission, no share of unit sales, nobody with a reason to talk a number up.

Members of a chartered body

The author and the approver are both MCIEEM, working to its code of professional conduct.

The workings are not private

Baselines, condition assessments and metric returns went to the council with the plan. They are not a document between us and our consultant.

Walked and classified

Every parcel surveyed on the ground and mapped, so the starting habitat on each piece is a matter of record rather than a desk estimate. Five field parcels, 18.63 hectares, all in arable production and most recently in maize.

Condition assessed

Against the published criteria for each habitat type, on identifiable parcels, in season. The arable baseline scored low distinctiveness and poor condition — which is exactly why the uplift is real.

Metric run

Baseline and proposed habitats through the statutory metric, producing the figures on the units page. Baseline: 37.25 area units, 7.58 hedgerow, 5.11 watercourse.

Plan written

A Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan setting the management prescriptions, the monitoring schedule, and the condition target every parcel has to reach.

Grassland and botanical condition

Roughly May to July, when the sward is up and species can be identified. Outside that window a meaningful assessment is not possible.

Hedgerows

In leaf, so broadly May to September, for structure, gappiness and woody species.

Protected species

Breeding birds April to June over several visits; newts and reptiles in their own spring and summer windows, with their own licensing where present.

Winter

Not survey season at all. Winter is for management work, writing up, and getting reports to the council.

The schedule

Survey and report in years 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30, funded out of unit sales rather than billed to anybody afterwards. The thirty years runs from the first sale of units, not from a fixed date.

What is measured

The same condition criteria used for the baseline, on the same parcels, by the same practice — so the figures are comparable year to year rather than a fresh opinion each time.

Time to target

The plan allows 5 to 10 years for grassland and scrub to reach target condition, and 15 for woodland. Those are the metric’s own timescales and they are already priced into the unit figures.

Who sees it

North Lincolnshire Council, as the Section 106 requires. Buyers can have a copy of any report on their units for the asking.

When a parcel is off target

ESL says so, and we change what we are doing — cutting later, grazing harder, replanting a gappy stretch. That is the point of monitoring rather than a box to tick.

North Lincolnshire Council

Counterparty to both Section 106 agreements, and the authority that would enforce them. Your planning officer is dealing with an obligation their own authority negotiated and signed. Why that matters →

ESL (Ecological Services) Ltd

An independent consultancy with its own clients, developers among them. Baselines, metric, management plan and thirty years of monitoring. More about the practice →

Our solicitor

Drafted both Section 106 agreements and handles the unit transfers. It is the reason a document pack goes out in two working days instead of six weeks — the legals do not start from scratch with each buyer.

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust

Advisory input on habitat creation and species targets.

National Grid

Supply agreement in progress.

Done by us

Cutting and topping, hedge cutting, scrub control, spot treatment of problem weeds, gates and access, and being on the ground every week because these blocks sit inside farms we are working.

Bought in

Seed and plants from a merchant, hedging plants and guards, a fencing contractor where stock fencing was needed, and a machine for the pond and ditch work.

Never contracted out

The ongoing management. There is no third party booked to visit twice a year, because the people who farm the land are the people who manage the habitat.

No fund

Nobody has taken a lease over this land or bought an interest in the units. We funded the creation ourselves and we carry the delivery obligation.

No broker

You are not paying a margin to somebody who introduced you to us. If you found this site, you have found the sellers.

No management company

There is no special purpose vehicle between you and the party named on the Section 106.

No responsible body

Not because there is anything wrong with conservation covenants, but because we chose the Section 106 route instead. The comparison is here →

They have been on the ground

Everybody named above has walked both blocks. Nobody on this list is advising from a desk in another county on the strength of a map.

They will take your call

Directly, without us in the middle and without being briefed first. If somebody we work with will only speak to you through us, that tells you something.

Nobody takes a cut of a unit sale

Professional fees for work done, invoiced to us. No commission, no percentage, and therefore nobody with an interest in talking a number up.

The Section 106

A local land charge. It shows up in the standard searches your solicitor already runs, and North Lincolnshire Council can confirm it independently of us.

The habitat banks

Registration with Natural England is the step still to come. Once the entries exist they are public, and the references will be on the banks page.

Who owns the land

Land Registry. The titles will show the freehold owner and the obligation registered against it — which is the whole point of doing it that way round.

The businesses

Companies House, for accounts, officers and any charges. Look us up rather than wondering.

The ecologist

His professional body maintains a public membership list, and his practice has its own clients who can be asked about him.

The solicitor

Regulated, and on the public roll. Your own solicitor can confirm the firm in a minute.

Enquiry to quote

Within 24 hours. Same day if it arrives in the morning and harvest is not on.

Quote to reservation

As soon as you say so — a reply to the quote is enough.

Reservation held for

Thirty days as standard, extendable by agreement.

Contracts to document pack

Two working days. Our solicitor has drafted this twice already, so it does not start from scratch for each buyer.

Allocation shown on the register

Up to six weeks with Natural England. That is their timescale, not ours, and it is the one part of this nobody can speed up.

To quote

The metric, or the shortfall and habitat types. The planning authority. Ideally the planning reference and your target determination date.

To reserve

Confirmation of which units. Nothing else.

To complete

Your solicitor's details, the correct legal entity to contract with, and the development the units are being allocated to.

Useful, not essential

Anything else in your pipeline in this district. It is the fastest route to a better price.

Your ecologist

Runs your metric and tells you the shortfall. Ours will speak to them directly at any point.

Your solicitor

Reviews the pack and verifies the Section 106 and the register entry independently of anything we say.

Our solicitor

Draws the sale agreement and handles the transfer.

Your planning authority

Has to be satisfied the off-site units are acceptable for your application. Ask them before you buy.

Natural England

Records the allocation against the biodiversity gain site. Nobody instructs them and nobody hurries them.

The application is refused

A reservation is refunded in full. If you have already completed, talk to us — we will do what we reasonably can, though once units are allocated on the register it is not always straightforward.

The scheme slips

Tell us before the thirty days are up and we will extend rather than release the units.

The shortfall moves

Metrics change as designs change. Come back to us with the new figure — adjusting up or down before completion is usually straightforward.

You find them cheaper elsewhere

Check the spatial multiplier has been applied before you compare. If they still work out cheaper once it has, take them.

Volume

The single biggest factor. A large allocation is priced materially better than a fractional one, because the cost of doing the deal is almost the same either way.

Repeat business

Second and subsequent purchases are priced better than the first. Framework arrangements across a pipeline are better again.

Habitat distinctiveness

High-distinctiveness units cost more than medium. They took longer to create, cost more to manage, and are harder to replace.

Timing

Units reserved well ahead of determination are easier for us to plan around than ones needed next week.

What it is not

We do not price on how badly you need it. Come to us with a scheme stuck at committee and you get the same number you would have got three months earlier.

Creation

Seed, plants, fencing, water engineering, and the crop income given up on land taken out of the rotation.

Thirty years of management

Cutting, grazing, scrub control and hedgerow cycles, every year, funded from the sale.

Eight monitoring surveys

Years 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30, plus the reports to the council and any remedial work they call for.

The legal and the registration

Getting a Section 106 negotiated and executed with the authority, the site onto the national register, and our solicitor's work on your transfer.

Your document pack

The executed agreement, the register entry, the management plan, the allocation letter and the metric outputs.

Ongoing liability

None, for you. It stays with us for the full term — which is most of what you are buying.

Risk, and a margin

We spent before we sold anything, and we carry the obligation whether the units move or not. There is a farming margin in there, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

Has the multiplier been applied?

Are you comparing units you would actually have to buy, or a headline rate before the distance discount? The sum is here.

Is it the right habitat type?

Trading rules mean like for like or better. Cheap units of the wrong type will not close your shortfall at any price.

Is management funded, or billed later?

Ask whether the thirty years of management and monitoring comes out of the price, or arrives as an annual charge afterwards.

Does any liability come back to you?

If the habitat underperforms in year twelve, whose problem is it? Get that answer in writing before you compare anything.

How is it secured, and by whom?

Section 106 with the authority, or a covenant with a private body? Why we think it matters.

Is the site actually registered?

Or is it a pipeline site awaiting legals? A cheaper unit that cannot be allocated when you need it is not cheaper.

Reserving

A refundable deposit holds the allocation thirty days, extendable. Refunded in full if the application is refused or withdrawn; comes off the price if it proceeds.

The balance on completion

One payment, on contracts. No staged payments and nothing due before then.

Nothing afterwards

No admin charge, no monitoring levy, no annual anything.

VAT

The VAT treatment of unit sales is not entirely settled. We will state the position clearly on the quote, and your accountant should confirm it independently.

Same planning authority or the same National Character Area

× 1.00 — units count in full. Note the or: you do not need both. A site in a different authority still counts in full if it shares your character area.

A neighbouring authority or character area

× 0.75 — you need roughly a third more units than your shortfall.

Anywhere else in England

× 0.50 — you need twice as many units as your shortfall.

Full value

Schemes in North Lincolnshire or West Lindsey, and schemes in any other authority that fall within the Lincolnshire Wolds or the Central Lincolnshire Vale character areas. That is a considerably wider catchment than one farm would give you, and it is the practical reason the two banks are worth more together than apart.

Discounted but often still sensible

Neighbouring authorities and character areas. Worth running the numbers — at 0.75 we are frequently still the better buy.

Do not buy from us

Schemes in the south, the west, or anywhere our units would take a 0.50. Buy closer to home; you will spend less and your planning officer will be happier.

Farms

Habitat Networks Ltd — arable on the chalk, [x] hectares

There since

[x] generations

The habitat bank

Kettleby, the thin chalk block. The site →

Also

[Other interests, roles, what people round here would know you for]

Farms

[Farm name and total hectares]

There since

[x] generations

The habitat bank

Seventy hectares — cereal ground into species-rich grassland, the existing woodland restored, and 3.13 km of new hedgerow. The site →

Also

[Other interests, roles, what people round here would know him for]

Section 106 or a covenant

The covenant route is quicker and cheaper and we could have been trading months earlier. We took the slower one because the council reading it and being able to enforce it is worth more to a buyer than speed was worth to us. The comparison →

Whether to publish prices

A price list is simpler and looks more open. We decided against it because it would stop us doing a better deal for volume and repeat buyers, which are the two discounts actually worth having. Why →

Whether to do it together at all

Two farms selling as one supplier only works if neither undercuts the other and both hold the same standards. That took the longest to agree and it is written down.

Farmed by

Anthony Turnbull, Habitat Networks Ltd

In the family

[x] generations

Total farmed

[x] hectares

Soils

Thin over chalk on the tops, heavier down the slope

Rotation

Winter wheat, oilseed rape, beans, spring barley

Also on the farm

[Grain storage, livestock, contracting]

The habitat bank

Kettleby — the thin chalk block, out of the rotation since 2024. The site in detail →

Farmed by

Ben Jackson

In the family

[x] generations

Total farmed

[x] hectares, of which 69.85 are in the bank

Where it sits

Across the North Lincolnshire and West Lindsey boundary, with land in both the Lincolnshire Wolds and the Central Lincolnshire Vale.

What went into the bank

Fifty-two hectares of cereal ground, the margins and rough grass around it, and 7.36 ha of broadleaved woodland that was already there.

Rotation on the rest

[Confirm]

The habitat bank

Species-rich grassland, restored woodland, lowland meadow and 3.13 km of new hedgerow. The site in detail →

The machinery is already here

Cutting, topping, hedge work and scrub control are done with kit that is on the farm anyway, by people already on the payroll. There is no contractor being booked in twice a year and no callout to pay for.

Somebody is on it every week

We are past these blocks constantly, because they sit inside farms we are working. Problems get seen in the week they start rather than at the next monitoring visit.

The habitat is not the whole business

Neither farm depends on unit sales to keep going. That matters over thirty years: the management does not stop if the market for units has a quiet year.

We are not going anywhere

These are family farms with the rest of the holding around the habitat blocks. We will still be farming the field next door in thirty years, which is not a commitment a fund can make.

What is measured

BNG: biodiversity units from a habitat metric. Nutrients: kilogrammes of nitrogen or phosphorus a year, from a nutrient budget.

Where it has to be

BNG: preferably the same planning authority or character area. Nutrients: in the same hydrological catchment, upstream of the protected site. Geography is not a preference here, it is the mechanism.

How long for

BNG: thirty years. Nutrients: commonly far longer — the housing is permanent, so the mitigation is expected to last as long as the development does.

Who has to be satisfied

BNG: the planning authority, against the metric. Nutrients: the authority through its habitats assessment, with the national conservation body as consultee. A higher bar, and a slower one.

What creates it on a farm

BNG: creating better habitat. Nutrients: usually taking land out of intensive production so the fertiliser and manure load stops, or building wetland that intercepts nutrients before the water leaves.

The catchment question

Whether either holding sits in a catchment where nutrient neutrality applies at all. Until that is checked against the current published list, everything else is academic.

The stacking question

Whether nutrient mitigation could sit on land already carrying a Section 106 for biodiversity, without disturbing units we have already sold. Nothing gets offered until that is answered properly, in writing.

The policy question

Nutrient neutrality has been the subject of repeated attempts at reform. Committing land for the lifetime of a development, under rules that keep being reopened, is not a decision to take quickly.

The scale question

Whether there is enough demand within reach to justify a separate scheme with its own baseline, its own securing and its own monitoring.

A poor baseline

Continuous combinable cropping, improved grassland, ground with no ecological interest to lose. The lower it starts, the bigger the uplift.

Awkward to farm anyway

Thin over chalk, wet bottoms, steep headlands, small corners you turn on. Land that costs you time and rarely repays the drill.

Within reach of development

Same LPA or National Character Area as somewhere houses, infrastructure or commercial floorspace is actually going up.

Clean title

Yours to commit. A tenancy, a mortgage, an option agreement or a third party’s rights all have to be dealt with first, not later.

Land you can let go of

Thirty years is a generation. It has to be ground you are content will not come back into the rotation in your lifetime, or your successor’s.

Water, if you have it

A ditch you can hold back, a corner that floods, an old pond. Wet habitat is high distinctiveness and there is far less of it about.

You spend, up front

Baseline survey and metric, habitat management and monitoring plan, legal drafting, the registration itself, and then the creation work — seed, plants, fencing, water engineering, whatever your plan calls for.

You commit, for thirty years

Management every year and monitoring surveys at set intervals, reported to the authority. That has to be funded, and it is funded out of what the units sell for — so a slice of every sale is spoken for before it reaches you.

You earn, as units sell

Per unit, when a developer needs them. Some sites sell out in a season; some sit. Nobody can promise you a rate of sale, and you should be wary of anybody who does.

You carry the risk in between

If the units do not sell, the creation cost and the management obligation are still yours. This is a real business risk, not a subsidy scheme.

The land, not you

The obligation is registered against the title. It binds whoever owns the land afterwards — your successors, or a buyer of the farm.

Your lender’s position

A charge over the land means the bank has to consent before you can bind it. Ask them early. It is rarely a refusal but it is always a delay.

Your tenant’s position

If the ground is let, you cannot commit it on your own. That has to be sorted out with the tenant first, on proper advice, and it can be the thing that stops a scheme.

Other schemes on the same acres

You cannot be paid twice for the same action. What can and cannot sit alongside a biodiversity gain site changes, so check the current Defra position rather than what somebody told you two years ago.

Succession and tax

The treatment of land in long environmental agreements has moved in recent years and is still moving. It matters a great deal to a farming family and it is not something to take from a website.

Stays entirely yours

The freehold, the farming, the management decisions, your own obligation with the council, and the proceeds of your own units.

Shared

The ecologist who already knows the ground and is known to the council’s team. The solicitor who has drafted this agreement twice and will not start from scratch. The website, the enquiries and the developer relationships.

What it gives a buyer

A wider habitat range and more depth in the common types across more of the district — which is exactly what makes a developer with a mixed shortfall pick up the phone.

What we ask

The same legal route we use, the same monitoring discipline, and no undercutting each other on price. Nothing else.

What it costs

A share of the cost of the shared parts, and a share of what the enquiries bring in. Set out in writing before you commit to anything, not afterwards.

Buying units for a development

Use the form below. It takes a couple of minutes, and it works the spatial multiplier out for you as you fill it in.

You have land, and a question about it

Do not use the form — that is a conversation, not a quote. Ring, or send two lines saying roughly where you are and what the ground is. Read this first →

Something else entirely

Ring. Planning officers, other people's ecologists, solicitors doing due diligence, neighbours being nosy — all welcome.

Anthony Turnbull

anthonyturnbull123@gmail.com  ·  07970 830878

Ben Jackson

ben@jacksonfarms.org  ·  07876 548588

Post

Habitat Networks Ltd, Lincolnshire Wolds, North Lincolnshire

When you will hear back

Indicative pricing within 24 hours. If you ring during harvest you may get a voicemail — leave a number and we will call back the same evening.

Two people read it

It comes to the pair of us. There is no sales team, no ticketing system and nobody working from a script.

You get a number within 24 hours

Or, if we cannot cover your shortfall, a straight answer saying so — and where else to look if we know of anywhere.

We do not chase

One reply, and then it is your move. If you go quiet we assume you found something that suited you better, and that is genuinely fine.

Your details go nowhere

No mailing list, nothing passed to anybody else, and enquiries we cannot help with are deleted rather than filed for later.

Nothing is committed

A quote is a quote, a reservation deposit is refundable, and nothing further is due until contracts.