Overview
Local nature recovery strategies are a system of spatial strategies for nature and environmental improvement required by law under the Environment Act. Our local nature recovery strategy will allow us to develop a shared ambition to recover nature across Oxfordshire, helping wildlife to flourish, improving the quality of our air and water, and mitigating the impacts of climate change.
Progress to date
In Oxfordshire, the OLNP is working closely with Oxfordshire County Council (the responsible authority) and many other partners to ensure our LNRS delivers the
best possible outcomes for nature. To do this, we helped engage all relevant stakeholders, particularly those who will be the main deliverers and funders (ie community groups, farmers/landowners, and businesses)as early in the process as possible. This engagement took place over three phases – initial information gathering (>1,000 people engaged), delivery of a webinar, and formal consultation on the draft strategy, which received over 2,000 responses. Our 2023 and 2024 annual Forum events also focussed on the LNRS. These were both attended by over 80 people, to ensure broad support and engagement with the creation and adoption of the strategy.
The draft LNRS includes documents that list the biodiversity priorities we want to achieve in the county, a list of species to focus recovery efforts on, and a map tool which shows the areas where the LNRS is recommending that local people and organisations focus their resources to undertake habitat creation and improvement work.
Next steps
The consultation responses are being analysed. The LNRS team (a partnership of organisations) is now collaborating with the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery to compile the thousands of responses into a public report. We will then adjust the strategy (documents and map) accordingly and report on the changes. The strategy will then go through scrutiny by Oxfordshire's Local Authorities.
The OLNP has called for a clear narrative vision for Oxfordshire's nature, and a strong focus on wider environmental benefits, particularly social equity and climate resilience.
The final strategy is expected to be adopted in Autumn 2025.
Related publications
Towards a nature-first neighbourhood plan
Neighbourhood plans can play an important role in protecting and restoring your local nature. Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership has created this document to help inform thinking about the types of policy that might be developed for a given Neighbourhood Plan (NP). It includes policy examples from existing neighbourhood plans, and guidance on the steps to take when developing a draft neighbourhood plan.
Oxfordshire Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) guiding principles
The Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership proposes that Oxfordshire's Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) adopt the principles the working group, which includes representatives from local authority planning departments, have developed for Biodiversity Net Gain implementation.
The intent of these principles is to ensure that Biodiversity Net Gain is implemented in a way that supports the spirit of the Environment Act 2021 and maximises Biodiversity Net Gain’s potential impact on nature recovery in Oxfordshire. They are designed to facilitate a harmonised approach across all local authority areas, recognising that some local variations may be inevitable and indeed beneficial. Our aspiration is that they will provide a common framework within which local authorities, developers, conservation bodies, farmers and landowners work together to protect and restore our county’s nature.
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