Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the role of local nature recovery strategies in local planning decisions.

Local Nature Recovery Strategies are being prepared across England to set out priorities for nature recovery, map important habitats and identify opportunities for improvements.

The government recently updated its Planning Practice Guidance to explain the role of Local Nature Recovery Strategies in the planning system and made clear as part of that update that these strategies will form an evidence base which may be a material consideration when making planning decisions.

It is for individual decision-makers to determine what is a relevant material consideration in each case.