How it works
A home for people and a home for nature. Here's how the pieces fit.
From field to community
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Land. It starts with a landowner, often a farmer, who agrees to restore part of their land as native habitat under a long-term agreement. They receive guaranteed payments every year.
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Habitat. An ecologist records what is there today. Then the land is restored to suit its soil and the local plan for nature's recovery: wildflower meadow, wetland, native woodland or hedgerows. The habitat is registered nationally and monitored each year.
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Homes. We work with builders, housing associations, and community land trusts on small rural schemes nearby. We aim for affordable homes for local families. The homes are designed to be energy-efficient with low running costs.
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Community. Wherever the land allows, people living nearby can walk in the restored land, watch it change, and help look after it. We are designing it so that a body whose job is to protect the land keeps caring for it well after the 30 years required by law.
Why this works now
Since February 2024, most new development in England must leave nature at least 10% better off than before, on site or elsewhere. This is called Biodiversity Net Gain, and it pays for restoring new habitat. NeighbourWood uses that to fund restored nature, then goes further: pairing it with homes, engaging communities, and designing it to last.
The land decides
No two sites are the same. How much habitat a scheme has, what kind, and how much of it is open to walk in all come from the land itself: what is there today, the local plan for nature's recovery, and what the landowner and community need.
Once a site is confirmed, we openly publish its real characteristics: the number of homes, the acres of habitat, the types of habitat, the portion open to the public, and how long it is protected.
Where part of the land also serves as public greenspace, for example as Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace, we say so plainly and keep it separate from the habitat that funds nature's recovery.
What we do, and what we don't
| We do | We don't |
|---|---|
| Find land and prepare it for habitat and homes | Build the homes ourselves: our housing partners do |
| Pair each habitat with homes nearby | Restore nature ourselves: our ecology partners and landowners do |
| Run the tools and data that plan, monitor and manage each scheme | Validate our own sites: independent ecologists do |
| Bring landowners, partners and communities together | Promise more than the land can deliver |
Words we use
- Biodiversity Gain Site Register
- The national public register of land delivering off-site gains, kept by Natural England.
- Biodiversity Net Gain
- The rule, since 2024, that most development in England must leave nature at least 10% better off, measured with a government metric.
- Biodiversity unit
- The measure of habitat value used for Biodiversity Net Gain. Developers can buy units from habitat elsewhere to meet their requirement.
- Conservation covenant
- A legal agreement that protects land for nature and binds future owners.
- Habitat bank
- Land restored to create biodiversity units that developers can buy.
- Local Nature Recovery Strategy
- A county-wide plan showing where restoring nature matters most.
- N-OS
- NeighbourWood's tools and data platform for planning, monitoring and running each scheme.
- Responsible body
- An organisation approved by government to hold conservation covenants.
- Rural exception site
- A small site outside a village's usual building limits, allowed for affordable homes for local people. A few homes for sale can sometimes be included to make it work.
- Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG)
- Greenspace provided so new residents have somewhere to walk, easing pressure on protected wildlife sites.