Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government which public body, or bodies, will be given the responsibility for the delivery of the Local Nature Recovery Strategies once they have been agreed.

Local Natural Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) will identify and map the best locations to create, enhance and restore nature and provide wider environmental benefits across the whole country. The Government has committed to funding LNRS preparation and recognises the need for them to have weight and meaning across a range of government policies to support and incentivise their delivery.

No one body can therefore be solely responsible for the delivery of LNRSs. Recovering nature will require public, private and voluntary sectors to work closely together to deliver the priorities identified in the strategies. All public bodies must have regard to LNRSs as part of their strengthened statutory duty to conserve and enhance biodiversity (attached).

The Government will publish guidance shortly on how planning authorities will have to have regard to and in time take account of LNRSs in their plans. LNRSs will help to target biodiversity net gain actions and as the strategies become available, the Government will continue to explore join-up between elements of Environmental Land Management schemes and LNRS, as committed to in the January 2024 Agricultural Transition Plan (attached).

We are in discussions with LNRS responsible authorities about their role in helping to coordinate activities in their areas.