Scottish Planning Biodiversity Metric

This web page outlines the work that NatureScot is undertaking to develop a biodiversity metric for Scotland’s planning system, to support delivery of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) Policy 3b. When published, this tool will be known as the Scottish Planning Biodiversity Metric (SPBM) although for the sake of brevity on this webpage we also refer to it as “the Scottish metric”. This work has been commissioned by the Scottish Government.

NPF4 Policy 3b states that national and major developments, or those subject to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), will only be supported where it can be shown that they will conserve, restore and enhance biodiversity, including nature networks, so they are in a demonstrably better state than without intervention. The policy requires that such proposals demonstrate significant biodiversity enhancement, in addition to any proposed mitigation. 

When developing the SPBM, a key focus of our commission from the Scottish Government is to adapt the existing English statutory biodiversity metric to produce a tool that is suitable for use within the Scottish planning and consenting context, as a tool to inform professional judgement by the decision maker.  It is recognised that the use and application of a Scottish metric will be different to the use of the English metric.  This reflects that Scotland’s policy-led approach to delivering biodiversity enhancement differs from England’s legislative/statutory approach.

The commission’s final outputs will include a Scottish metric tool suitable for use in the planning system and accompanying guidance (together with any additional supporting information). Updates on the Scottish metric development will be periodically added to this webpage as the project progresses. 

While the SPBM is being developed, the Scottish Government’s Planning guidance: biodiversity (December 2025) advises that “…the absence of a universally adopted Scottish methodology/tool should not be used to frustrate or delay decision making, and a flexible approach will be required”. 

We expect the SPBM to be fully available in 2027, with a consultation planned for mid-2026 on a working draft metric tool and accompanying guidance. In the meantime, we have produced Guidance on the use of existing biodiversity metrics in the Scottish planning system to provide an overview of how metric tools work, good practice advice on the use of biodiversity metrics in a planning context, and a factual explanation of the key differences between the currently published metric tools that are publicly available. 

For guidance on securing positive effects for biodiversity from local development to support NPF4 Policy 3c, please refer to our Developing with Nature Guidance. 

If you have any queries, or further comments that could assist with the development of the Scottish metric, please email: [email protected].