Balancing Nature and Development: The Humber Estuary Protected Site Strategy Pilot 

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Development, Evidence, Growth, Landscapes, Natural England, Nature, Protected sites and species, Special Protection Area, Wildlife

By Katherine Carson, Senior Officer, Sustainable Development, Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire Area Team When you think of the Humber Estuary, you might picture big stretches of mudflats full of wading birds like curlew and lapwing. Or maybe you think of the busy docks and …

Building Homes, Restoring Nature: How District Level Licensing has streamlined development 

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Development, Growth, Natural England, Nature

By Mike Burke, Sustainable Development Portfolio Director Nature underpins our nation's growth, health, and security. Natural England's job is to recover nature whilst enabling our partners in the development sector to build the vital homes this country needs.  Our approach is to …

A Biodiversity Net Gain Solution for a High Value Brownfield Site

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Biodiversity, Biodiversity Net Gain, Biodiversity Net Gain – Hints and Tips, Development, Natural England

By David Feige, Northumberland County Council In this guest blog, David Feige, County Ecologist for Northumberland, explains the approach taken to approve a major new industrial development on a brownfield site at Cambois. The site contained a significant amount of …

Royal Assent: Natural England and the Planning and Infrastructure Act 

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Development, Growth, Monitoring, Natural England

By Marian Spain, Chief Executive, Natural England The Planning and Infrastructure Bill received Royal Assent today. The new Act is central to the government's Plan for Change, representing one of the most significant planning reforms in a generation. The Act also represents a milestone for Natural England, giving more opportunities to to …

Natural England’s Chief Scientist reflects on the Science, Evidence and Analysis for nature recovery

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Biodiversity Net Gain, Climate change, Connecting People with Nature, Development, Education, Evidence, Flood Management, Green Infrastructure, Growth, Monitoring, Natural England, Nature, Nature Recovery, Science and evidence

By Professor Sallie Bailey, FICFOR, BES On 4 December, the Royal Armouries in Leeds hosted some leading voices in nature recovery. Thought leaders and innovators from environmental NGOs, academia, finance, infrastructure and local government joined Natural England at our Science, …

Rethinking how we approach the design of reservoirs

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Climate change, Development, Evidence, Green Infrastructure, Growth, Landscape, Natural England
Photo of Wimbleball Lake with landscape scenery around

By Jacqui Jobbins, Landscape Senior Specialist, Natural England As our climate changes and demand for water grows, water companies across the country are planning new reservoirs and expanding existing ones. But these projects aren’t just about storing water – they’re …

Landscape Recovery and growth: building the foundations for critical nature infrastructure 

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Biodiversity, Development, Environmental Improvement Plan, Farming, Green Infrastructure, Growth, Landscape, Natural Capital, Natural England, Nature, Nature Recovery, wildlife and farming
Ock-and-Thames-Landscape-Recovery-Project.-Credit-Freshwater-Habitats-Trust.jpg

By Chris Davis, Natural England’s Deputy Director for Landscape Recovery and Schemes Development At a time when the UK is facing serious environmental challenges such as climate change and loss of wildlife, restoring and protecting our natural capital is one …

Rediscovering the value of water meadows

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Biodiversity, Connecting People with Nature, Landscape, Natural England, Nature
Salisbury cathedral as a backdrop to the Harnham water meadows

By Edward Parrott, Senior officer - Agri-Environment Evidence team, Natural England Earlier this year I had the pleasure of joining contractors LUC and industry experts on a visit to Harnham water meadows - a rare surviving example of a centuries-old …

From local to national and back again: place-based support for citizen science

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Connecting People with Nature, Evidence, Monitoring, Natural England, Nature, Science and evidence
An illustrated citizen science brainstorming workshop with members of the public in Bristol by the Natural History Consortium

By Andy Jefferies, Senior Officer for Citizen Science One challenge for the citizen science sector is how to bridge the gap between evidence and experiences which are meaningful at a local scale, and those which are meaningful at a national …

How nature and nuclear can co-exist

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Climate change, Development, Green Infrastructure, Growth, Natural England, Nature, Science and evidence
Sizewell B nuclear power plant in the distance behind natural landscape

By Sean Mahoney, Sizewell C Project Manager and Senior Officer, Major Planning Casework A collaborative approach has delivered environmental protections alongside energy security at Sizewell C nuclear power station. Natural England has worked closely with Sizewell C and environmental stakeholders …