This is crazy!

🤞 it will change.

Quite disheartening to come up against petty bureaucracy when you are trying to do the right thing to keep people safe.

It is charity registered and a CIC.

We've had quite a bit from lottery already - £1 million for the original build! (it's a very special passiv house building) - and other bits after that. I think we have exhausted that pot for now.

Looking it up it looks as though the BNG process might change next year - hopefully in our favour - so we may just have to wait.

Is this a charitable trust which owns it or the LA or Parish Council?

If it is the LA or Parish Council they have a duty of care and should install this for you free of charge.

If a charitable trust, could you ask the Lottery Fund Awards to pay or for a contribution towards this on the grounds of Health and Safety?

This all seems over-the-top bureaucracy!

It doesn't have to cost that much. There are easy to use software tools for a third of the price, this for example:

www.joesblooms.com/

Watch the video presentation here:

Introduction to Joe's Blooms Biodiversity Net Gain Tool

www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9F_YUytiHg

Why not contact them to see how they can help?

I have no affiliation to this company. I simple found it when searching for information on the BNG process.

I’d never heard of this so I googled. Crazy indeed!

Not just the price but the intracis of the form, the information and action required to get this passed.

It’s going to bring to a halt many small scale community projects like yours, that are run by volunteers.

Id definitely be writing to my MP!

I’m sure you’ve already looked at trimming a bit ff to bring it in under the 25sq metres. Narrower?

Or if you made the existing tarmac part of the path, fencing it with a planter or something would that bring the verge bit is under regulation?