By Hannah Wood, Strategy Deputy Director, and Fin Rylatt, Land Use Framework lead, Natural England In this blog post, we explain how the new Land Use Framework sets out a path to clearer, more integrated ways of managing England’s land. The new Framework shows how nature, food production, clean energy and housing can complement each …
By Mike Smith – Deputy Director, Wildlife Licensing and Reform This blog outlines how Natural England is modernising the bat licensing system. It explores how we are building evidence to strengthen the planning system to deliver better outcomes for bat …
The first ever five-year evaluations of strategic licensing for great crested newts have just been published. This blog, written with NatureSpace Partnership, explores the successes so far and shows that the schemes are creating high‑quality habitat for great crested newts, …
Local authorities make a wide range of decisions that shape how places grow and how communities thrive, often working across complex systems and competing priorities. To support this, Natural England and partners have developed Explore: a practical framework that brings …
By Greg Shaw, Senior Officer – Biodiversity Net Gain (Strategic Solutions and Biodiversity Net Gain Team). Across England, many communities face depleted green spaces and health inequalities. Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) can offer a clear link between development, wellbeing and …
By Alex Banks, Principal Specialist, Ornithology. Offshore wind development is a vitally important part of the UK government approach to tackling the climate crisis and addressing energy security. At the same time, it is also vitally important that we protect …
In this post, Mike Morecroft, Deputy Director for Climate Change Science at Natural England, reflects on the Resilient Landscapes and Seas partnership symposium held recently in Edinburgh, where conservationists, scientists and land managers from across the UK and beyond came …
By Dave Slater, NE Regional Director for the South West Hinkley Point C will be the UK's largest nuclear power station, providing low-carbon energy to millions of homes. But building it in the Severn Estuary, one of Britain's most important …
By Marian Spain, CEO of Natural England It’s not often that a major infrastructure project is associated with being green, but recently I visited a project which aims to be ‘Britain’s greenest road’. This is a bold claim but one …
By Katharine 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 …
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We’re the government’s adviser for the natural environment, helping to protect England’s nature and landscapes for people to enjoy.
