Public opinions of Biodiversity Net Gain in England

The data consist of 500 responses, collected between the 18^th and 23^rd July 2024 inclusive. Participants were recruited through Respondi, a commercial research panel who provide participants a small incentive for completing the survey. The questionnaire survey was designed to take around ten minutes to complete and was accessed in a web browser. Interlocking age and gender quotas were used to ensure a broadly representative sample. A total of 937 people were sent the questionnaire, of which 113 did not start; 109 were screened out due to not consenting or not meeting the participant requirements (over 16 and living in England); 136 were rejected due to their respective quota being full; 79 were suspended due to over 30 minutes of activity; leaving 500 completed surveys.The data were collected with the aim of better understanding the English general public's opinion of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), a planning/conservation policy recently mandated in England. They were collected as part of a PhD thesis looking at opinions of BNG and how these are likely to impact project acceptance. Thus far, the data have been used to address the following research questions:What is the public’s knowledge of and experience with BNG?Do the public believe the assumptions behind BNG?To what extent do the public trust the organisations involved in BNG?What is the public’s opinion of BNG as an approach? What predicts this?What is the public’s desired approach to BNG?The questionnaire primarily consisted of multiple choice questions and was designed to take around ten minutes to complete.