A SCHEME requiring developers to benefit nature has delivered just a fraction of the expected new habitat in its first year, according to campaigners.

Research by the Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL) found that only 609 hectares (1,500 acres) of off-site land has been secured for new habitat developments and another 93 hectares (230 acres) have been reported on the site of projects.

The figures fall short of the government’s central estimates of nearly 5,500 hectares (13,590 acres) a year.

Conservationists warn that many developers are exploiting exemptions in the biodiversity net gain scheme, introduced last year, which requires developers to increase habitat by at least 10 per cent to compensate for losses caused by development.

They also warned that monitoring and enforcement are insufficient and that the scheme is failing to deliver its promises to boost England’s wildlife.

Publication of the findings coincides with the government preparing to overhaul the planning system, with ministers aiming to reform environmental regulations to speed up house-building and infrastructure projects.

Conservation groups are calling on the government to improve biodiversity net gain by enhancing monitoring and enforcement, reducing exemptions and setting ambitious targets for major infrastructure and marine development.

They also say that planning reforms should not undermine protections for nature, in the face of legally binding targets to halt species decline by the end of the decade, and ensure that they deliver off-site compensation for wildlife, where harm cannot be avoided, more effectively.

WCL chief executive Richard Benwell said the policy was full of potential “but also full of holes.”

He added: “Nature recovery and development can go hand in hand, but only if rules to protect wildlife are effective.

“Ecosystems are critical natural infrastructure and it’s vital that the planning system plays its part by dedicating enough space for nature to thrive.”