Corporate report

Natural England action plan 2023 to 2024

Published 22 January 2024

Applies to England

Foreword

The prospects for arresting the downward spiral of nature are brighter now than they have been for perhaps half a century. Nature recovery is firmly embedded in the national consciousness as well as in newly signed international and domestic commitments.

After the UK government helped to forge global common cause at Biodiversity COP 15 in December, it set out the new Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP). The EIP is a very visible demonstration of this country’s commitment to taking the urgent, practical steps needed to reach the targets agreed in Montreal, and indeed those set out domestically while that summit was in progress and as required by the 2021 Environment Act.

The apex target, to halt species decline by the end of this decade, is clear, challenging – and urgent. What is required now is a concerted effort across government and society to translate its intent into action.

As the organisation at the forefront of this work, Natural England (NE) has produced an action plan for 2023 to 24 that is geared towards delivering – and enabling others to deliver – the effort that will take us there.

The urgency of those targets means we will be maximising our impact for nature by using all the tools, incentives, regulation, and enforcement now at our disposal. In line with the government’s Environmental Principles, we will be putting nature recovery at the heart of all our plans and partnerships, from national to local level. That will involve reaffirming existing relationships and building new ones with new audiences, businesses, and organisations.

By targeting this high impact work, we can help the Nature Recovery Network take shape across the country, which will be essential to fulfilling another of the EIP’s key commitments: ensuring every person lives within 15 minutes of nature so that all can enjoy the health and wellbeing enrichment it provides.

Although the EIP and Environmental Act targets provide a strong legal imperative for our work this year, the compelling reasons for recovering nature go beyond legislation, not least the need to demonstrate to the world that the UK is serious about delivering on its commitments made at Montreal and at COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh. The momentum we are generating domestically must be lasting and visible, to encourage other nations to do their bit for nature recovery too.

As those global gatherings demonstrated, at a time when the world is facing growing peril from the twin crises of climate change and wildlife depletion many of the solutions can be found within nature recovery. Conversely, we cannot avert climate catastrophe without restoring nature.

There is now, at last, a deepening understanding of our complete dependence - economically, agriculturally, and socially - on the many services and benefits that nature provides. Clean water, food security, carbon storage, flood and drought reduction, and thriving wildlife are the cornerstones of a strong and sustainable economy and a healthy society. We need to invest in them now while they can be secured relatively cheaply, rather than another decade or so down the line when the cost of action – and the price of failure - will be so much greater.

Over the next 12 months we look forward to working hard with our partners to seize the chance we now have, to make this year one of significant advances for nature recovery in this country.

Tony Juniper CBE, Chair

Introduction

Natural England is the government’s adviser for the natural environment in England. We help protect and restore our natural world. Our job is to help create the conditions for nature to thrive and in turn, people can too. A healthy environment and a vibrant economy must go hand in hand - our economic prosperity and well-being depends upon doing so.

This action plan sets out our priorities for delivery this financial year; where we will lead and where we will support others to deliver. Building partnerships for nature’s recovery remains our clear mission. Our approach will be to work at scale, collaborating with a diverse range of delivery partners. We will provide our expertise, evidence and partnership-building skills, working within communities, recovering nature together.

Natural England advisers are skilled at weaving together the available tools and focusing effort in places where they can make the most impact. We know that acting now to reverse current trends in nature loss is significantly less costly than delay. This is what Natural England is doing now, on the ground, to help deliver a Nature Recovery Network across the country. The Nature Recovery Network will create new opportunities for people to connect with nature, making and restoring beautiful, accessible, and wildlife-rich landscapes and green spaces close to home

By working together to restore our depleted natural world we can secure the building blocks of clean water, food security and biodiversity, that the economy needs to prosper in the long term. At the same time, we can unlock the Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), reduce and mitigate the impacts of climate change. We will be maximising the contribution that NBS makes to our net zero ambitions, with a particular emphasis on supporting the restoration of peatlands and the expansion of woodland cover through natural regeneration and planting.

Green Finance is a rapidly emerging opportunity to bring in the additional investment needed for this work, reflected in the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs’ (Defra) target to generate £1 billion a year from private finance to support nature recovery by 2030. As part of government’s new Green Finance Strategy, we will create a nature project portfolio and work with business and industry to create clearer pathways for investment in nature.

Marian Spain, Chief Executive

Our priorities for the year ahead

The government’s Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), combined with new powers and duties from the Environment Act, Agriculture Act and Fisheries Act, provides the foundation for halting and then reversing the decline in nature. It enables the transition to a high nature, low carbon economy, where a healthy and resilient environment will be fundamental to providing the services that people need and want.

Our activity this year will channel effort into delivery of the EIP and new statutory targets on reversing biodiversity decline, net-zero, water and air quality, woodland restoration and commitments to transform the agriculture and fisheries sectors.

Our key goals for 2023 to 2024

• develop a nationwide nature recovery network across land and sea through targeted action with partners. We will use all the levers at our disposal – incentives, advice, regulation and enforcement - to help restore protected sites, recover species and create new places for nature to thrive and people to enjoy

• maximise the impact of new tools for nature recovery

  • Local Nature Recovery strategies are the centrepiece of these, putting power into the hands of local communities to tackle environmental pressures and recover nature
  • the new Environmental Land Management Scheme provides widespread measures to restore environmental health, while Landscape Recovery and Countryside Stewardship support both targeted improvement and larger-scale restoration programmes
  • Biodiversity Net Gain balances the need for development and ambition to recover nature
  • the new Green Infrastructure framework can help create nature-rich spaces for people to enjoy in urban environments
  • a new approach to creating and managing protected landscapes so they better contribute to “30x30” target

• improve our evidence base and invest in the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment to develop the evidence base we have available to help communities take decisions

• collaborate across government and sectors to develop strategic solutions to environmental pressures, enabling fast, sustainable development of new homes and infrastructure, such as offshore wind. The roll out of our Nutrient Mitigation Scheme will help tackle water pollution. We will develop the evidence base to inform how best to improve air quality and further develop Protected Sites Strategies and Species Conservation Strategies to deliver nature recovery at scale

• seek ever stronger partnerships. We cannot deliver nature recovery alone; nature recovery is dependent on partners and stakeholders and widening the scope of these partnerships. We will expand the range of voices we engage and continue to build a nationwide movement for nature recovery through the Nature Recovery Network partnership

• invest in the skills and training of our people to ensure that we capitalise on the opportunities for nature recovery and build a more diverse workforce to better reflect the communities we serve

How we work

Natural England organises its work through 6 programmes:

• Resilient Landscapes and Seas
• Connecting People with Nature
• Sustainable Development
• Greener Farming and Fisheries
• Science, Evidence and Evaluation
• Managing the Organisation

The programmes are designed to work together and be more than the sum of their parts. They bring together the power of statutory tools, with expert advice and guidance, to deliver results on the ground.

To maximise our impact, we will:

• work at scale on land and at sea through partnerships, prioritising our efforts in places where we can achieve the most, including through others
• focus on high opportunity and high risk casework and enable our staff to make evidence based judgements when applying regulations
• use a strategic approach to assessing impacts, providing solutions to avoid and mitigate environmental harm

Our long-term goals and 2023 to 2024 activities

To monitor progress, this year we are working to a new Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and Measures of Success (MoS) framework. This sets out the long-term outcomes we will achieve and how we track progress year on year - focused on delivery of statutory Environment Act targets and the ambition set out in the EIP.

KPI A

KPI: our long-term goal

We restore and enhance the health of our ecosystems (across land and sea) and the natural beauty of our landscapes by increasing the area and improving the character, quality, resilience and connectivity of wildlife-rich places.

MoS: how we will measure progress towards that goal

MoS A1: protected area quantity and quality; increases in land and sea area where nature is recovering

MoS A2: carbon secured through grants and advice; mega-tonnes of carbon secured in natural and semi-natural habitats through our advice, grants, and projects

MoS A3: delivering nature-rich, beautiful landscapes; positive improvement to landscape and waterscape characteristics

Our priority actions in 2023 to 2024

• accelerate the Nature Recovery Network (NRN), expanding the number of Nature Recovery Projects, declaring new or expanded National Nature Reserves (NNRs) and investing in existing NNRs

• roll out site of special scientific interest (SSSI) monitoring and develop and implement SSSI improvement plans that drive favourable condition as part of a phased programme towards the 2042 target for 75% of sites to be in favourable condition

• deliver the £4.9m Conservation Enhancement Scheme to support improvement of protected sites

• a clear plan to restore our marine protected areas with more designated marine features in favourable condition; working with partners to implement byelaws and other measures to improve our marine environment

• deliver high quality statutory planning casework, collaborating with local authorities, developers, and national government to enable timely nature-positive development

• maximise the opportunity of biodiversity net gain and nutrient mitigation schemes to create more, bigger and joined-up new habitat

• deliver round 3 of the £30M Nature for Climate Peatland grant scheme and test new markets for peatland restoration through the Paludiculture Exploration fund

• strengthen our landscape delivery partnerships to implement recommendations from the Glover Review and help protected landscapes contribute more to the 30by30 target, and create new protected landscapes

Our targets for 2023 to 2024 and policy goal to which this contributes

MoS A1 Protected area quantity and quality

Metric A: the area of land and sea that is protected will increase by 12,200 ha

• policy goal: 30x30: 30% land and water managed and protected for nature by 2030

Metric B: 15% of SSSI features will have actions underway and on track to achieve favourable condition.

• interim EIP target: 50% of SSSI features will have actions underway and on track to achieve favourable condition by 31 January 2028
• long term EIP target: by the end of 2042, we will ensure that species abundance is greater than in 2022 and at least 10% greater than 2030

Metric C: 44% of designated features in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to be in favourable condition

• interim EIP target: 48% of designated features in MPAs to be in favourable condition, with the remainder in recovering condition, by 31 January 2028
• long term EIP target: ensure that 70% of designated features in MPAs are in favourable condition by 2042, with the remainder in recovering condition

MoS A2 Carbon secured through grants and advice

Metric A: 2.15 mega tonnes carbon secured through 25,000ha peat restoration under Nature for Climate Peatland grant scheme.

• EIP commitment: restore 280,000 ha of peatland by 2050

MoS A3 Delivering nature-rich, beautiful landscapes

Metric A: embed national government / EIP targets and ambitions into individual National Park and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) statutory management plans. Complete protected landscapes outcomes framework by end of March 2024.

All statutory National Park and AONB management plans have EIP/Environment Act targets and ambitions embedded in them by end of 2028 to 2029.

• EIP commitments: produce protected landscapes targets and outcomes framework, which will then help deliver many other EIP commitments in National Parks and AONBs

Metric B: national character area-based landscape database and change atlas to monitor landscape change and deliver commitment to start ongoing reporting against EIP Indicator G1 (changes in landscape and seascape character) by end of March 2024.

• EIP commitments: protect our landscapes and their heritage

KPI B

KPI: our long-term goal

We increase the abundance of species that are indicative of the wider health of the natural environment and reduce the number under threat of extinction.

MoS: how we will measure progress towards that goal

MoS B1 Species recovery and reintroductions: the number of species benefiting from reduced extinction risk

MoS B2 Licences that benefit species conservation: species protected by licensing

Our priority actions in 2023 to 2024

• delivery of an expanded species recovery programme

• roll out of the new £6 million (2022 to 2023) Species Recovery capital grant scheme and support Defra’s Species Survival fund

• maximise the contribution made to species recovery and abundance through wildlife licensing, including implementation of species conservation strategies

• provide advice on new fisheries management plans and bye-law regulations; and on the recovery of seabird colonies, including those affected by avian influenza

• support government’s newly established species reintroductions taskforce to advise on the positive use of reintroductions to drive nature recovery

Our targets for 2023 to 2024 and policy goal to which this contributes

MoS B1 Species recovery and reintroductions

Metric A: 400 rare and threatened species benefitting from Natural England’s species and nature recovery projects (including conservation translocations).

• long-term EIP target: by the end of 2042 we will improve the Red List Index for England for species extinction risk compared to 2022 levels

MoS B2 Licences that benefit species conservation

Metric A: increase the proportion (%) of licences issued that benefit species conservation by 5% (from the current 55% to 60% by March 2024).

• interim EIP targets: by the end of 2030, we will halt the decline in species abundance
• long term EIP targets: by the end of 2042, we will ensure that species abundance is greater than in 2022 and at least 10% greater than 2030

KPI C

KPI: our long-term goal

We increase the number and representation of people engaged with nature and nature recovery in a way that supports socio-economic and health benefits for local communities.

MoS: how we will measure progress towards that goal

MoS C1 People’s access to quality green space: percentage of population that have accessible greenspace within 15 minutes from home

MoS C2 Increase people’s connection with nature: proportion of adults and children frequently connecting with nature

Our priority actions in 2023 to 2024

• use the Green Infrastructure framework to create new nature within 15 minutes of people’s homes, realising the EIP “Green in 15” ambition and expanding the Nature Recovery Network into urban areas

• continue work to establish the King Charles III England Coast Path and Coast to Coast National Trails within this spending review (SR) period

• launch a new Nature Cities pioneer initiative to support local partnerships and communities drive action that creates greener, healthier, climate resilient and nature–rich places to live work and play

• review the messaging of the Countryside Code to improve audience reach

• focus volunteering offer on the green skills and jobs ambitions in the EIP

• contribute to local health planning and nature recovery by investing in strategic partnerships with integrated care systems, for example green social prescribing, green community hubs and greening the NHS estate

Our targets for 2023 to 2024 and policy goal to which this contributes

MoS C1 People’s access to quality green space

Metric A: maintain the proportion of people with access to green and blue space within 15 minutes from home to present level of 62%

• EIP commitment: work across government to fulfil a new and ambitious commitment that everyone should live within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space

Metric B: 20 new local authorities to have embedded the green infrastructure framework in their policies. (and 40 by 2025, and 200 by 2040).

• EIP commitment: work across government to fulfil a new and ambitious commitment that everyone should live within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space

MoS C2 Increase people’s connection with nature

Metric A: maintain proportion of adults in England visiting a green and natural space in the last 14 days at 63% (as measured against People and Nature survey 63% 2021 to 2022 baseline).

Metric B: delivery of 30 NE activities or projects designed to connect people with nature. Includes embedded recording of the number and representation of people connecting with nature.

• EIP commitments: make the King Charles III Coast Path fully walkable by the end of 2024; deliver a new National Trail along the route of the Coast-to-Coast path by 2025

KPI D

KPI: our long-term goal

We work with a wider range of local partners and diverse communities to create wildlife-rich, accessible, characterful places for people to live and work underpinning economic sustainability.

MoS: how we will measure progress towards that goal

MoS D1 Supporting creation of local nature recovery strategies: number of local nature recovery strategies setting out ambitious nature recovery priorities through collaborative engagement with a wide range of stakeholders.

MoS D2 Recovering nature at scale with partners: number and area of new or expanded nature recovery projects established where we deliver at scale

Our priority actions in 2023 to 2024

• support responsible authorities to develop ambitious local nature recovery strategies (LNRS)

• integrate our delivery of farm advice schemes to improve the service we provide farmers to help them maximise their contribution to nature recovery, woodland creation, air and water quality targets

• reduce air and water pollution, through the Plan for Water, 2024 price review (PR24), nutrient mitigation task force, and targeted delivery of catchment sensitive farming (CSF) programme

• develop a pipeline of landscape recovery applications for steady growth in 2023 to 2024 and rapid growth in 2024 to 2025 and beyond to 2030 and continue to support delivery and redesign of the countryside stewardship scheme to contribute to nature recovery

• advise on spatial plans on land and sea and develop new strategic solutions to avoid and mitigate the impacts of development that enable both economic growth at the pace needed and deliver large-scale environmental improvement, for Defra’s offshore wind enabling programme

Our targets for 2023 to 2024 and policy goal to which this contributes

MoS D1 Supporting creation of local nature recovery strategies:

Metric A: all 48 LNRSs are on track as defined by Defra and captured on the LNRS progress tracker.

Metric B: all area teams working with partners to influence a range of relevant strategic plan policies, initiatives and investment to better deliver LNRS priorities.

• EIP commitments: roll out local nature recovery strategies

MoS D2 Recovering nature at scale with partners:

Metric A: initiate at least 30 medium-scale projects (over 500 hectares (ha)) and large-scale projects (over 5,000 ha), delivering wildlife-rich habitat and landscapes in a place.

• EIP commitment: launch a further 19 nature recovery projects across England by 2025, building on the initial 6 to produce a suite of 25 nature recovery projects
• and links to long-term EIP target: restore or create in excess of 500,000 ha of a range of wildlife-rich habitat outside protected sites by 2042, compared to 2022 levels

Metric B: development of mechanisms to support the increase of private and public investment and funding into NRN projects.

• EIP commitment: publish an updated green finance strategy; raise at least £500m per year of private finance into nature’s recovery by 2027 and more than £1billion by 2030

Metric C: 6 diffuse water pollution plans (DWPP) completed with interventions agreed.

Effective implementation of the nutrient mitigation scheme, including sales of credits to enable at least 6,500 new homes to be built.

• EIP interim target: reduce nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution from agriculture to the water environment by 10% by 31 January 2028
• EIP interim target: reduce nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution from agriculture to the water environment by 15% in catchments containing protected sites in unfavourable condition due to nutrient pollution by 31 January 2028
• long term EIP target: reduce nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution from agriculture into the water environment by 40% by 31 December 2038, compared to a 2018 baseline’

KPI E

KPI: our long-term goal

We are an evidence-led organisation, using evidence to inform our advice and leadership to drive positive changes in the natural environment.

MoS: how we will measure progress towards that goal

MoS E1 Better evidence for nature recovery: expanded and improved data and evidence available for nature recovery.

MoS E2 Increased use and accessibility of our data and evidence: accessibility and use of our data and evidence increases to support nature recovery.

Our priority actions in 2023 to 2024

• improve our evidence-led culture and practice by investing in better data management, digital systems, and innovation in data science

• build our understanding of environmental change through investment in the Defra Partnership Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programmes both at land and sea, as well as developing a State of Natural Capital report

• embed a culture of evaluation across all that we do so that we learn and share what works for nature recovery

• invest in climate change research and piloting of nature-based solutions through a shared outcome funded programme

• build scientific and technical skills across the organisation to ensure our credentials in applied environmental management are maintained and enhanced

Our targets for 2023 to 2024 and policy goal to which this contributes

MoS E1 Better evidence for Nature Recovery

Metric A: 850 SSSI features surveyed by 31 March 2024

• interim EIP target: all SSSIs will have an up-to-date condition assessment by 31 January 2028
• 50% of SSSIs to have actions on track to achieve favourable condition by 31 January 2028
• long term EIP targets: all SSSIs will have an up-to-date condition assessment by 31 January 2028. 50% of SSSIs to have actions on track to achieve favourable condition by 31 January 2028

Metric B: 400 monads surveyed for natural capital and ecosystem assessment programme. (1 OS kilometre grid square)

• EIP target and policy commitment: the EIP monitoring and evaluation framework will include natural capital ecosystem assessments to inform future EIP reviews.

MoS E2 Increased use and accessibility of our data and evidence:

Metric A: improvements to organisational data good practice with regards to the use, advocacy, production, and management of data measured against the data maturity assessment.

KPI F

KPI: our long-term goal

We invest in the wellbeing, development, and diversity of our staff so that Natural England remains a great place to work.

MoS: how we will measure progress towards that goal

MoS F1: staff engagement; safety and inclusivity: Natural England is an engaging, safe and inclusive place to work.

MoS F2: staff capability and customer service: our staff have the right skills, knowledge and capacity to deliver their work

MoS F3: digital maturity: improved digital maturity which enables us to meet the scale of ambitions for the longer term

Our priority actions in 2023 to 2024

• staff capability, diversity, and inclusion – investing in our people at all levels to ensure we have the right people in the right places with the right skills to deliver our ambitions

• health, safety and wellbeing – invest to keep our people safe and well at work

• digital maturity – effective management of our digital portfolio and organisational reforms to improve delivery

Our targets for 2023 to 2024 and policy goal to which this contributes

MoS F1: staff engagement; safety and inclusivity:

Metric A: Employee engagement index rises to 65% to exceed 2021 benchmark. Metric B: 95% of reported incidents are investigated within the required 10 working day period.
Metric C: % of staff in Natural England declaring as BAME to increase to 4% by March 2024.

MoS F2: staff capability and customer service:

Metric A: all staff are undertaking an average of 10 learning and development days per year.
Metric B: 85% of statutory casework delivered within published timescales.

MoS F3: digital maturity

Metric A: increase our digital maturity on the 5-point scale from 1-2 to 2-3 by March 2024.

Our finances

Our total planned funding for 2023 to 2024 is £332.1 million, of which £193.1 million is revenue and £139.0 million is capital. This equates to a 27% increase compared to total planned funding for 2022 to 2023.

• 92% of our funding is Grant in Aid (GIA) provided by Defra
• 8% of our funding is from non-government sources which includes fees, charges, external partnership funding and other smaller income streams
• we continue our endeavours to increase our chargeable income and will be looking at exploring further opportunities to extend this over the next year of the comprehensive spending review period

Our budget by funding stream

Income type	Percentage of funding
Revenue Grant in Aid	59
Capital Grant in Aid	32
Fees and charges	2
District level licensing - newts	2
External partnership funding	4
Other income	1

Our budget breakdown by KPI

KPI	Percentage of expenditure
KPI A	46
KPI B	13
KPI C	8
KPI D	14
KPI E	11
KPI F	8

Our people

Our agreed resource for 2023 to 2024 is 3,073 full time equivalents (FTE). These are made up of our agreed baseline resource of 2,980 and then on top of this a further 93 FTE to support Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA), Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) and Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Discretionary Advice (FCERM DAS+). Of this 3,073 FTE, 174 support Capital work activities.

This staff resource is profiled across our KPI work areas.

Staff resource by KPI

KPI	Percentage of staff resource
KPI A	47
KPI B	12
KPI C	6
KPI D	14
KPI E	11
KPI F	10

Spotlight – building partnerships for nature’s recovery

The following short case studies are just a few examples of our priorities in action.

The Nature Recovery Network (NRN)

The Nature Recovery Network (NRN) is core to Natural England’s vision of ‘thriving nature for people and planet’ and our mission of ‘building partnerships for nature’s recovery’. It is a single, national ecological network of wildlife-rich places. Central to the government’s apex goal of improving nature, it benefits people and wildlife by increasing, improving and joining-up these places across England, stretching from our cities to countryside, mountain to sea.

The Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project, launched in May 2022, is delivering a great place for nature and people to thrive while tackling the adaptations and mitigation needed for climate change. The project area extends across 10,000 hectares on the urban fringe of the West Midlands, creating a mosaic of heathland, wetland, woodland and grassland. This habitat is vital for the recovery and long-term resilience of the area’s reptiles, birds and pollinators.

With a population of more than 500,000 people within 2 miles of the area, the project offers an opportunity to reconnect residents with nature on their doorstep. Partners include Walsall Council, Lichfield Council, Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and the Environment Agency.

This is one of 6 Nature Recovery Projects, led by Natural England and funded by Defra. The projects demonstrate the power of partnerships to drive nature recovery at scale, in places where partners and communities come together. Natural England looks forward to announcing 6 new Nature Recovery Projects this year.

Green Infrastructure Framework - new tools for nature recovery

A major new tool to help towns and cities turn greener launched this year - aimed at planners and developers, the Green Infrastructure Framework will help increase the amount of green cover to 40% in urban residential areas.

Parks and greenspaces in England deliver an estimated £6.6 billion of health, climate change and environmental benefits every year. But with 80% of people now living in towns and cities, one third of people do not have access to good quality green and blue space within 15 minutes of their home

The Green Infrastructure Framework (GIF) provides a structure to analyse where greenspace in urban environments is needed most. It aims to support equitable access to greenspace across the country, with an overarching target for everyone being able to reach good quality greenspace in their local area.

Improve our evidence base and invest in the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment

The Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme (NCEA) is establishing long-term, system-level capability for measuring and better understanding England’s natural capital. As well as delivering a comprehensive baseline assessment of our environment and ecosystems, the programme is transforming the physical and digital infrastructure for collecting and sharing environmental data. It combines existing data with coordinated monitoring (field survey + earth observation + citizen science), publishing the results in easily-accessible, policy-relevant form.

Projects include the Living England habitat map, the England Peat Map, the Green Infrastructure map and the England Ecosystem Survey (EES). EES is a five-year rolling survey assessing the condition of vegetation, habitats, soils and landscapes across England. It operates at a much larger scale than other NE monitoring programmes, collecting data across a wide range of ecosystems and land types. Its outputs will allow us to better monitor change over time of England’s environmental assets.

NE NCEA is part of a wider Defra-led programme, and is coordinated with sister programmes across other Defra arm’s length bodies (ALBs), as well as with a marine NCEA programme.

Nutrient Mitigation Scheme - collaborate across government and sectors to develop strategic solutions

Nutrient pollution is an urgent problem for freshwater habitats and estuaries which provide a vital home to many species including wetland birds, fish, and insects. Increased levels of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus can disrupt natural processes and harm wildlife. We know that nature is fundamental to human health and prosperity, so impacts are felt by all of us in society.

The government has already taken significant action to tackle this problem. However, in some catchments, pollutant levels in recent years have reached critical levels that require additional intervention to ensure that Local Planning Authorities can have confidence in permitting new housing. We recognise the challenges this creates for developers in additional costs and delays on development and Natural England is very focussed on working with the sector to find solutions.

Since the announcement of a Natural England-led Nutrient Mitigation Scheme by Government in July 2022, Natural England has been working closely with Defra (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), DLUHC (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities), the Environment Agency, Homes England, the Planning Advisory Service and Local Planning Authorities.

The scheme will facilitate the delivery of thousands of new homes whilst delivering an array of exciting nature-based projects. It forms part of the wider package of support that Government is providing to deliver new homes, promote access to green space, and contribute to nature recovery.

Thames Basin Heaths Partnership - seek ever stronger partnerships

Nestled amongst the gorse and scrub of the Thames Basin Heath’s Special Protection Area lie some of the most important habitats for ground-nesting birds in the world. This beautiful countryside, near to London, has been earmarked to alleviate housing pressures on south-east England, with Local Authorities planning to build upwards of 50,000 homes close to the heathland over the last decade.

Natural England has spearheaded a partnership that’s generated positive outcomes for all parties. The Thames Basin Heaths Partnership is a collaboration between Natural England, landowners, local authorities and environmental organisations. It was created to turn the risk of negative impacts of a growing population, into opportunities for the people and nature that live in the area.

The partnership has led to the creation of over 2000 hectares of additional or improved green space for people to enjoy, and returned wildlife like otters, Cinnabar moths and rare orchids to the area. An engagement and monitoring programme helps keep the protected heathland and new green spaces in good condition and creates opportunities for those who do not regularly spend time in nature, to do so.

Our people

As we work to address the huge challenge of nature’s recovery in England, we must ensure all voices are represented and the benefits of accessing and spending time in nature are equally shared.

Natural England co-funded a joint route map to boost ethnic diversity in the environment sector – it provides key steps for environment charities to take over the next 5 years, in order to help the sector to become more ethnically diverse.

The environment sector has long been aware of, and keen to address, its lack of ethnic diversity. We are committed to taking a leading role in increasing the ethnic diversity of our organisation and working hard to ensure Natural England is an inclusive place to work, where all staff feel welcome and able to reach their full potential.