Policy paper

Local nature recovery strategies

Published 30 June 2023

Applies to England

What local nature recovery strategies are and why they are needed

England is widely considered to be one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world following historic and ongoing declines. Government has made legally-binding commitments to end these declines and for nature to recover. This is important for nature’s own sake and for all the things that we rely on nature for, like clean water and food production. For nature to recover, targeted, co-ordinated and collaborative action will be required.

Each local nature recovery strategy will agree priorities for nature recovery and propose actions in the locations where it would make a particular contribution to achieving those priorities. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has appointed 48 responsible authorities to lead on preparing a local nature recovery strategy for their area. Together these 48 strategy areas cover the whole of England with no gaps or overlaps .

Responsible authorities will work with other organisations and partners in their area to agree what should be included in their local nature recovery strategy. They will identify practical, achievable proposals developed with the input of people who know and understand the area, especially landowners and managers. This approach is essential if the proposed actions are to be taken.

Responsible authorities will provide local leadership to draw together knowledge, expertise and the best available information and data. Anyone who can play a part in recovering nature and the wider environment in their local area could be involved in preparing a strategy.

What local nature recovery strategies will look like

Each local nature recovery strategy will be specific and tailored to its area. The responsible authorities and people involved in preparing a strategy can choose how they want it to look, but every strategy must contain:

1. A local habitat map.
2. A written statement of biodiversity priorities.

Statutory guidance for responsible authorities explains in detail what these 2 things should contain. Together they set out what the strategy is aiming to achieve and what practical actions will help do this. They will also propose where actions could be carried out for best effect and to connect and expand existing areas that are important for nature.

We expect local nature recovery strategies to propose actions such as the:

• creation of wetlands
• restoration of peatlands
• planting of trees and hedgerows
• more sustainable management of existing woodlands and other habitats like grasslands

These actions are intended to help nature itself and to also help improve the wider natural environment.

How they will be prepared

Responsible authorities must follow the local nature recovery strategy regulations when preparing their local nature recovery strategy. The regulations set out how the responsible authority must work with Natural England and with other local planning authorities in their strategy area to prepare and agree their strategy.

The regulations also require the responsible authority to:

• consider who else should be involved in strategy preparation
• publish information on how preparation of the strategy is progressing

Responsible authorities must undertake a public consultation on their local nature recovery strategy before it is published.

Government is also providing responsible authorities with details of relevant publicly available data and suggestions for how the different datasets could be used to help them prepare their strategies.

Natural England have an important role to play in providing support and advice to every responsible authority to help them prepare their strategies. Natural England will also draw on specialist advice from the Environment Agency and Forestry Commission.

Government will provide the 48 responsible authorities with around £14 million between April 2023 and March 2025 to be spent on preparing their strategies. It is anticipated that most responsible authorities will take 12 to 18 months to prepare and publish their strategy. By March 2025 local nature recovery strategies should be in place across the whole of England.

Who can be involved with preparing local nature recovery strategies

Responsible authorities must work with other partners when preparing their strategy. They must work closely with the local planning authorities in their area and with Natural England.

They should also involve a wide range of groups to make sure that local nature recovery strategies reflect local priorities and benefit from local knowledge. Examples of these groups include:

• landowners and managers
• government organisations, such as the Environment Agency, Forestry Commission and National Highways
• environmental charities
• businesses
• local groups and communities

This collaborative and strategic approach will help to make sure proposals are appropriate and reflect both ambition and an understanding of what can be achieved.

How local nature recovery strategies will be delivered

Local nature recovery strategies will help people to see where action to recover nature in their area would be most effective. There is no requirement that any specific proposed action must be carried out. Instead, the proposals are intended to guide where the public, private and voluntary sectors focus their nature recovery efforts for greater collective impact.

Responsible authorities will then be required to review progress periodically and to update their strategy to reflect what has been done and where more action is needed.

Government is putting in place a package of measures to encourage and support people to carry out proposals in each local nature recovery strategy. The measures include:

• a new duty on all public authorities to have regard to relevant local nature recovery strategies
• an incentive in how the new requirement for biodiversity net gain is calculated - to recognise the added impact of taking action where the local nature recovery strategy proposes
• integration of local nature recovery strategies into the planning system, so that areas of greatest potential for nature recovery can be better reflected in planning decisions
• funding for specific activities that local nature recovery strategies will be expected to propose locations for

These measures will help generate momentum and encourage those who helped shape the strategy to take further action to support its delivery.

Where action is taken, this will contribute to the expansion of a nature recovery network, a commitment from government’s 25 Year Environment Plan.

Public authority biodiversity duty

All public authorities have a duty to conserve and enhance biodiversity and must “have regard” to relevant local nature recovery strategies in the process. Guidance on complying with the biodiversity duty includes who public authorities are and what they should do.

Incentives for people who have biodiversity net gain responsibilities

The Environment Act 2021 created a new biodiversity net gain condition for planning permissions. Developments will have to leave the natural environment in a measurably better state than it was before.

Project leads, such as developers, must use the biodiversity metric to calculate the biodiversity net gain of a project or development.

Development projects that create, enhance or recover habitat in locations which are mapped in a local nature recovery strategy will get a higher biodiversity value in the biodiversity metric than they would in other locations. This is because they are in a more strategic location for nature recovery.

This will encourage the people in charge of projects to make changes that meet local priorities for nature recovery.

Local nature recovery strategies and the planning system

The Local Plans prepared by Local Planning Authorities must be consistent with national policy, as set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. Local nature recovery strategies should be used by plan-makers to inform the way they address the National Planning Policy Framework requirement for plans to protect and enhance biodiversity.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill is making changes to the planning system which will lead to government updating the National Planning Policy Framework. These updates will include how local nature recovery strategies should be given weight in the plan-making process. Government will also provide separate guidance on how local authorities will be expected to comply with their duty to have regard to local nature recovery strategies through their planning functions.

Funding for nature recovery activities

Government provides funding for a wide range of nature recovery activities to incentivise landowners and managers to make changes to how they use and manage their land for greater environmental benefit. For example, taking action for endangered species. Local nature recovery strategies will help to identify suitable locations for nature recovery activities and build support for these from landowners and local people. In return, funding for these activities will help the local nature recovery strategies be delivered.

Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes will pay farmers and land managers for undertaking environmentally beneficial activities on their land. Local nature recovery strategies will enable farmers and land managers to better understand and determine if there are actions that they could undertake that would have particular benefit in their areas. The strategies will also enable land managers to work together across areas and join-up actions to help improve connectivity. They will be a useful resource on which land managers can draw to inform applications for funding, particularly those looking to undertake more spatially targeted action, including Landscape Recovery projects.

As local nature recovery strategies become available across England, government will explore how to better enable increasing alignment between funding initiatives and the strategies. For example, by considering how applications can support local nature recovery strategy delivery.

Government has a goal to raise at least £500 million per year of private finance for nature recovery by 2027 and more than £1 billion by 2030. Local nature recovery strategies can support this ambition by identifying viable and well-scrutinised proposals for nature recovery at the scale needed to be attractive to private finance.

When strategies will be reviewed and updated

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will announce when all local nature recovery strategies across England must be reviewed. Responsible authorities will then publish updated strategies. This process must happen every 3 to 10 years.

Reviewing and publishing strategies is a core part of the responsible authority role, which government has committed to fund. It is essential for enabling local nature recovery strategies to play their important role in driving nature’s recovery.