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Natural England

Green Infrastructure: creating habitable towns and cities fit for the future

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Biodiversity, Climate change, Development, Green Infrastructure, Natural England
Image shows an urban park with lots of trees and greenery surrounding the buildings There is a canal running through the centre of the image, and tall buildings in the background. A blue sky hangs overhead.

  This week is Green Infrastructure week, a celebration of green infrastructure design and best practices. Green infrastructure is a network of natural spaces designed to deliver benefits for people and the planet. The below video details green infrastructure in …

Enhancing Access to Green & Blue Spaces for People with Visual Impairment

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Mental health and wellbeing, Natural England, Science and evidence, Uncategorized
Amar Latif, President of the Ramblers and blind adventurer is walking in the woods with a colleague. Amar is wearing a brown overcoat and is carrying a white cane. He is smiling broadly. His colleague is wearing a blue rain jacket and has his hands in his jean pockets. He is also smiling. The trees in the woods don’t have any leaves and it appears to be a chilly day.

Natural England's mission is 'Building partnerships for Nature recovery,' and we are passionate about building partnerships that make outdoor recreation activities available to everyone. Our commitment to the Equality Act 2010 underscores our dedication to inclusivity in all our endeavours. …

Sunday Telegraph article about Natural England’s position on housebuilding

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Natural England

An article in the Telegraph (14 October) picks up on comments made by Natural England chair Tony Juniper on X (formally Twitter) regarding media reports about the role of housebuilding on scrubland. The article suggests Tony is criticising housebuilding policy set out by Labour at its recent party conference.  The Telegraph also includes criticism from some quarters that Tony is opposed to housebuilding.  

Black History Month 2023: Saluting Our Sisters

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Education, Mental health and wellbeing, Natural England, Uncategorized

October is Black History Month, and across the Defra Group we are celebrating the twin themes of ‘Eliminating prejudice is everyone’s business’ and ‘Saluting Our Sisters’- honouring the achievements of Black women. Black History Month is a time to celebrate …

Geodiversity is for everyone – International Geodiversity Day 2023

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Geology, Natural England

Jonathan Larwood, Natural England Principal Geodiversity Adviser, celebrates the second ever International Geodiversity Day and its theme of ‘Geodiversity is for everyone’. International Geodiversity Day is an annual global celebration, supported by UNESCO, of all aspects of geodiversity.  This year’s …

Reconnecting communities with nature through local libraries

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Education, Mental health and wellbeing, Natural England
A mother gives a leave to her young child, who is holding a small rake for working in the garden

In our increasingly fast-paced and urbanised world, the need to reconnect with nature has never been more pressing. Recognising this, Natural England and Libraries Connected have joined forces to launch the Culture Nature project, a ground-breaking initiative aimed at bridging …

Nutrient mitigation scheme continues to unlock new homes and protect our waterways.

Photo of Seal Sands which is part of the Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast SPA and RAMSAR site

By Mike Burke, Director of Sustainable Development, Natural England. Government confirmed recently that the Nutrient Mitigation Scheme is still open for business. We hope this is welcome news for developers and Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) as it will provide the …

Farmers lead the way toward sustainable food production in East Kent

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Natural England

As a farm conservation adviser for Natural England, I’ve been working closely with farmers across Kent for 25 years to support them to incorporate wildlife friendly farming practices across 25,000 hectares of farmed landscape.
By building long term, collaborative relationships with farmers on the ground and helping them enter environmental schemes such as Countryside Stewardship, farmers are driving significant changes on both a farm and landscape scale to increase food production while simultaneously protecting and enhancing the environment

Homes England plays an active role in delivering biodiversity net gain

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Biodiversity, Development, Natural England
An Aerial view of a development site in progress. Lots of new houses are being built amongst greenery

In this blog, we explore what biodiversity net gain means to some of our stakeholders and how they overcome issues they encounter. Lisa Palframan – Senior Technical Manager with Homes England (HE) explains how HE are building experience in delivering …

A promising first year of the hen harrier conservation breeding programme and reintroduction

Close up shot of a female hen harrier bird

 A recap   In Autumn of 2022, ten captive  hen harriers were transported to the UK from a rescue centre  in France for Natural England’s conservation breeding programme (Hen harrier Reintroduction NE Blog). This forms an important step in the Southern …