Local Nature Recovery Strategy

Local Nature Recovery Strategies are a new way of prioritising nature needs on a more local and focused level. Find out more here.

Learn more about the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) and how it affects Northumberland.

What is a Local Nature Recovery Strategy?

Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) are a new way of prioritising nature needs on a more local and focused level. They will help agree targets and aims for increasing biodiversity by mapping current levels of nature and then highlight areas for improvement. A key feature of an LNRS is that it will identify both areas that could become of particular importance for biodiversity and areas where the recovery or enhancement of biodiversity could help address other environmental problems.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) ran five pilots in autumn and winter 2020-2021 in collaboration with Natural England and local partner organisations.  The aim was to test how Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) could be created. Northumberland was one of the five pilots.  Being involved at the initial pilot stage gave Northumberland a unique opportunity to work with partners, to develop this process and shape a local, landscape scale approach to developing LNRSs.  It was more about testing the process rather than producing an early LNRS. 

Defra published the statutory guidance in March 2023. The guidance details what responsible authorities should include in their LNRS. It builds on what is already required in the Environmental Act, covering some of the more technical aspects of LNRS preparation, and how LNRSs should be aligning with other plans and strategies. 

In June 2023 the 48 Responsible Authorities for England were announced.  In our area, the LNRS authority will be the North of Tyne Combined Authority.  A paper went to July's cabinet meeting (11th July 2023) on this topic.  The North of Tyne geography is Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside.  

The guidance breaks down the LNRS process into a few steps:
  • Map designated sites and irreplaceable habitats,
  • Describe the area and opportunities for nature,
  • Identify potential measures,
  • Map areas that could become important for biodiversity. 
In this way, the LNRS itself will be a combination of the map stages and the written stages.  We held an initial Steering Group meeting online in early August 2023.

If you have any questions about the LNRS in Northumberland, please email us at; LNRS@northumberland.gov.uk.

Meanwhile if you would like to explore maps of environmental designations in the county then take a look at our map library or our interactive maps. There is also MagicMaps, published by Defra, which is a useful guide to many of the national datasets.  

A paper went to July's 2023's cabinet meeting (11 July 2023) on this topic. The North of Tyne geography is Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside.  

We held two steering groups in 2023.  The Steering Group is made up of members of Northumberland County Council, North Tyneside Council, Newcastle City Council, Natural England, Northumberland National Park Authority, the Northumberland Coast National Landscape, the North Pennines National Landscape, the Environment Agency, the Marine Nature Partnership, the Forestry Commission and the North of Tyne Combined Authority.  The next meeting is in early May 2024 and meetings are every 2 months.  

We have been working regionally with the three other LNRSs in the North East (South of Tyne and Wear, Durham, and Tees Valley) to make sure we are co-ordinated, especially cross-border, on the maps and data side of things. Similarly, we need to liaise with the two new Authorities in Cumbria to make sure our boundary is co-ordinated (Cumberland, Westmorland & Furness) and also mindful of the Scottish Borders Council.

We have been working on our "stage 1" map.  (The LNRS guidance sets out 5 steps for us to follow; stage 1 and stage 5 are map stages).  You can see this here (opens in a new page).  The first tile you will see there is the part that fulfills the statutory guidance about the LNRS.  The second, third and fifth tiles are extra.  The tile about conversation areas just explains how we are dividing up the geography to help with consultation, read on.  

We are planning some consultation events to happen between June and October 2024.  The fourth tile in this map collection (here, opens in a new page) shows how we are dividing the North of Tyne up into 7 areas to make these conversations practical.  We have formed an "engagement sub group" and are meeting monthly.  We will add more to this section of these webpages as the process starts and there is more for people to be involved in.  

We have been reviewing some descriptions of the nature and biodiversity in the area that we wrote in early 2021, and updating that text.  This document is nearly ready to share online.  We will use this to start drawing up a "long list" of priorities and potential measures, to use in our engagement stage.  Together with the Environmental Records Centre we are also starting work on a similar "long list" of species, although the specides guidance is very different to the habitat guidance.  

ERIC North-East are hosting a LNRS Conference at the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle on Saturday 16th March. The conference will share information on the four LNRSs in the region, and present opportunities for you to provide some valuable initial input with a particular focus on species. ERIC North East holds our wildlife data and the recording community's knowledge is vital to help responsible authorities develop their strategies. If you have a specialism in a particular species or species group(s) then the ERIC conference could well be of interest to you.

We are planning a launch event for technical experts on Wednesday 10th April at 2pm at The Sill National Landscape Discovery Centre.  

FAQs about the LNRS

I am a farmer, what does the LNRS mean on my farm?  We hoped that when the guidance came out for producing LNRSs, that the link to the new ELMS would be more established, and clearer.  However, ELMS is just one potential way of funding places where you might want to do things differently on farm.  Other ways of funding might be through biodiversity net gain (developers paying to create or improve habitat to compensate for where building has taken place).  Or through "green finance" - which is potentially companies wanting to invest in the natural environment.  So, there are lots of different opportunities for additional income to the farm business. 

We think that by being part of the LNRS you will be able to shape what the future of your land might look like.  That your ideas and thoughts are in it from the start. 

We don't know the answers of the future ELMS yet, or whether being part of it will mean additional payments on farm, or whether it means your ideas will be targetted for biodiversity net gain money.  But we do know that we want the LNRS to take time to properly listen to farmers and land managers and take on board what you say.  
We know that some farmers and land managers have been farming in nature-friendly ways for generations - taking on from their parents and grandparents.  Some farmers are newer-comers to the ideas of regenerative farming or nature-friendly farming (the movement has many names!).  

We want to recognise and celebrate these good places!  We have to call it the "Local Nature Recovery Strategy" otherwise, when we go out to talk to people about it, they won't know it is this they are part of.  
We know that farmers and land managers know their sites better than anybody else.  It is really hard to have up to date, detailed survey information for an area that is as big as Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside!  

Farmers can help by recording species like certain birds, butterflies, flowers.  In Cumbria, after the LNRS pilots, a project took part where farmers added a lot of species records.  We might be doing something similar here in due course.  Also, farmers can help by pointing out your most interesting fields that other surveys are getting wrong.  

In urban areas there is the same problem.  There are "brownfield sites" which are places that have been left for a few years that used to have some sort of building or infrastructure on them.  As nature comes back these can be a haven for rare species that benefit from not having too much competetion from grasses.  Rare butterflies or spiders for example.  But even here, we haven't been able to keep up with surveying the habitats brownfield sites and recording the species there.  

There is probably going to be a bit of a lack of trained ecologists to do habitat surveys.  
We think there is enough room for food production as well.  There might be places on the farm where it is difficult to farm, or the land only makes a profit in certain years.  These areas you could be paid for doing things differently.  

Often there isn't always one action to take on these areas - there are choices.  So, for instance, a wet area could become a pond or a scrape for birds.  Or it could become a tree planting area.  There is and will be money available to help integrate these ideas into the farm business and let farmers concentrate on the food production places.  
A glossary for definitions of some technical words/phrases that are used throughout.

Nature Recovery Network (NRN) - a single, national network which will benefit people and wildlife by increasing, improving and joining-up wildlife-rich places across England, stretching from our cities to countryside, mountains to coast. At its core will be enhanced sites designated for nature conservation and other existing wildlife-rich places. Additional, newly created or restored nature-rich habitat, corridors and stepping stones will help wildlife populations grow and move. It will improve landscape resilience to climate change, provide natural solutions that reduce carbon and manage flood risk, and sustain vital ecosystems such as improved soil, clean water and clean air. It will reinforce the natural and cultural diversity of our landscapes, help to protect their historic environments, and enable us to enjoy and connect with nature where we live, work and play - benefiting our health and wellbeing.

Environment Act -  An Act to work on cleaner air, restoring habitats, increasing biodiversity and making better use of resources.  New environmental targets will be enforced by a new Office for Environmental Protection.  It included the duty to prepare Local Nature Recovery Strategies - 48 of these cover the whole of England. (Follow this link to the gov.uk website).  

Ramsar Sites - Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance that have been designated under the criteria of the Ramsar convention on wetlands for containing representative, rare or unique wetland types or for their importance in conserving biological diversity.  Find out more here

Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) - is a formal conservation designation. Usually, it describes an area that is of particular interest to science due to the rare species of fauna or flora it contains - or even important geological or physiological features that may lie in its boundaries.  SSSIs often contain important habitats such as grasslands, parkland and woodland. Some even contain ancient woodland and ancient trees. In other words, these areas have high conservation value, and need to be protected.  The locations of these protected areas as well as others can be seen on Defra's MAGiC map.  

Climate Change mitigation - refers to efforts to reduce or prevent emission of greenhouse gases. Mitigation can mean using new technologies and renewable energies, making older equipment more energy efficient, or changing management practices or consumer behaviour.

Peat Restoration - Peatlands are considered degraded when they’ve been drained or subject to altered water flow. In a degraded state, the carbon stored in the peat is released into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. Peat soils can be restored by re-wetting or restoring the natural flow of water and soil saturation.  Sphagnum moss is the key to peat formation.  

Nature based solutions – Nature-based solutions (NBS or NbS) are defined by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as, ‘actions to protect, sustainably manage, improve and restore natural or modified ecosystems, that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits’.

ERIC - Environmental Records Information Centre. We are working closely with them to digitise habitat information that previously was only in paper form.  We are also working with Northumberland Wildlife Trust who look after the Local Sites database.  
Links to external websites about the LNRS

Read more on DEFRA's website about the main findings and lessons learned from the pilots.

The Environment Act (2021) (on gov.uk).

You can find the statutory guidance for LNRSs here (on gov.uk) or this webpage (also gov.uk).  DEFRA have also produced non-statutory advice on a) governance / working with partners b) species. 

The Regulations are part of a Statutory Instrument and were also published, you can read them on the legislation.gov.uk website here.  They set out how we should work together to prepare and agree the LNRS, as well as who else needs to be involved.  

A 1-page factsheet that summarises these documents can be downloaded from here (pdf, opens in a new window).  

A set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the Planning Advisory Service website (opens in a new window).

A policy paper that explains what LNRSs are, what they will look like, how they will be prepared, who can be involved, how they will be delivered and when they will be reviewed and updated (on gov.uk).

A map of all the responsible authorities in England (on gov.uk) and information about the LNRS funding (on parliament.uk)

A LNRS explainer video made by DEFRA: A video from Minister Trudy Harrison (Twitter, LinkedIn).

A DEFRA blog (November 2023) on the link between LNRS and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG). 

Our neighbouring LNRSs:
Meanwhile if you would like to explore maps of environmental designations in the county then take a look at our map library or our interactive maps. There is also MagicMaps, published by Defra, which is a useful guide to many of the national datasets.

 
Our GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) Privacy Statement for contacts involved in the LNRS

How we handle your information
This Privacy Notice is designed to help you understand how Northumberland County Council as a registered Data Controller will handle your personal information. It will outline why we ask for your personal information, detail the information we hold, how it is used, shared and how long it is kept for. It will also detail how you can exercise your rights.

Why do we ask for your personal information? 
We use information about people who have an interest in nature to keep them updated with developments of the LNRS.  

What information do we hold? 
We only process the minimum personal information and special category (sensitive) information required to deliver the LNRS.

The personal information we process includes:
● basic details about you: name, phone number, email address, organisation
● contact we have had with you, for example, events you have attended or topics you have emailed about.

We are not processing any sensitive personal information about you. 

How does the law allow us to use your personal information?
There are a number of legal reasons why we are allowed to collect and use your personal information. In order to process your personal data, you have given consent for us to use your personal information.  Our service in this case is about helping to deliver the LNRS in the N of Tyne area.  

How long do you keep my information for? 
We will only store your information for as long as is legally required or in situations where there is no legal retention period, they will follow established best practice. The retention for the LNRS project is currently until mid-2025. 

Who will you share my information with? 
We are not intending to share your personal information with others.  In some instances, we may share with internal council services.  

Can request a copy of my records? 
You can request what information we hold about you. If you wish to see a copy of your records you should submit a Subject Access Request which is available through our website or by contacting the Information Governance Office. You are entitled to receive a copy of your records free of charge, within a month.

Do I have Other Rights? 
Data Protection law gives you the right: 

1. To be informed why, where, and how we use your information. 
2. To ask for access to your information
3. To ask for information to be corrected if inaccurate or incomplete. 
4. To ask for your information to be deleted or removed where there is no need for us to continue processing it. 
5. To ask us to restrict the use of your information. 
6. To ask us to copy or transfer your information from one IT system to another in a safe and secure way. 
7. To object to how your information is used. 
8. To challenge any decisions made without human intervention (automated decision making). 
9. To lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office 
10. If our processing is based upon your consent, to withdraw your consent. 

Data Protection Officer: informationgovernance@northumberland.gov.uk

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you are unhappy with the way we process your data. Details can be found on the ICO website, or you may write to the ICO at: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, Tel: 0303 123 1113, Email: casework@ico.org.uk