Berkshire's Local Nature Recovery Strategy
What is a Local Nature Recovery Strategy and who has developed it?
Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) are spatial strategies to recover nature across England. There are 48 in total and together, they will cover the country in a Nature Recovery Network. The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead have been responsible for developing the Berkshire LNRS. Bracknell Forest Council, Reading Borough Council, Slough Borough Council, West Berkshire District Council, Wokingham Borough Council and Natural England have supported the creation. The Environment Act 2021 states that every county area must develop a Local Nature Recovery Strategy. See further Regulations and Guidance for LNRSs.
Find a blog here from Natural England for more information on Local Nature Recovery Strategies.
When can I see the published strategy?
We are currently in the Pre-Publication stage of our Berkshire Nature Recovery Strategy. This means that it has been drafted, consulted on and edited, and is now obtaining support to be published. We anticipate publication could be this October (2025). Once published, the strategy will be available on this website.
How is a Local Nature Recovery Strategy created?
Each Nature Recovery Strategy has collaborated at every stage with many groups, from landowners to public bodies, to eNGOs, community groups and the public. Surveys, a Public Consultation, pins on maps, working groups and workshops were run to collect information that has made this strategy. First, we mapped areas that are currently good for biodiversity, and wrote about the biodiversity of the area, including its history and future opportunities and threats. Then, our Priorities and actions for nature recovery were agreed and used to create a Local Habitat Map. These depict what needs to happen to achieve the agreed aims for nature. This links with delivery mechanisms, such as Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), other funding opportunities and to habitat management guidance. See more in the flowchart below.
What will the Berkshire LNRS be used for?
Once published, our strategy will be a blueprint for Berkshire's Nature Recovery Network that will help us prioritise where and how we should invest and target action in the short-term. It will be a crucial delivery plan for the long-term ambitions of each Local Authority's Biodiversity Action Plans, Climate strategies and more.
The Berkshire LNRS will help to guide:
- Planning and development: How and where developers will deliver their new Biodiversity Net Gain duties - including the delivery of biodiversity offsetting and by identifying spatial allocations for nature.
- Agri-environment funding: It will help shape how future funding for farmers and land managers will be used under the new Environmental Land Management Scheme.
- Nature-based solutions: It may strengthen local ambitions for nature-based solutions to climate change by identifying priority areas for trees, wetland and other key habitats.
- Investment: It aims to help to attract and guide future investment in Berkshire's Nature Recovery Network.
Why are Local Nature Recovery Strategies needed?
England is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. To recover our nature, we need to understand what should happen at a local level. That's what Local Nature Recovery Strategies are aiming to do - use local knowledge to develop a realistic and accurate plan of where nature recovery should and could occur.
What did our Berkshire community tell us they want to see in Berkshire's Nature Recovery?
Visualisation of stakeholder views on Berkshire Nature Recovery. Credits to Natalie Ganpatsingh.
Updates
Updates on the Local Nature Recovery Strategy regularly posted here.
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Our Data Prioritisation methodology
An important part of our Berkshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy is the method of choosing which areas of Berkshire to prioritise for nature recovery. We cannot select everywhere: we have to decide where is most important to focus effort on first. Here in Berkshire, we decided to input priorities from all of our stakeholders (from our workshops and survey) and from documents existing on nature recovery from various councils, public bodies and NGOs, into a piece of software called Marxan. This undergoes a process called Systematic Conservation Planning.
More on Marxan
Marxan is a Decision Support software tool for conservation... Continue reading
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Farmer and Landowner Workshops completed
Our three workshops for farmers, landowners, land managers and foresters have been completed.
Below is a map of where representatives at the workshops managed land across Berkshire
We saw representatives from the following sectors:
Central Berkshire - (29 attendees)
- Parish council representatives
- Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust Representatives
- Ecologists– Reading Borough Council
- Farmers/Landowners x 5
- BioCap
- Forestry Commission
- University of Reading – agro-environment group x3
- Farmer cluster facilitator
- Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead officers – Natural Environment Team and Equalities and Diversity team
- Berkshire College of Agriculture
- Atomic Weapons Establishment ecologist
East Berkshire - (48 attendees)
- Ecologists Slough... Continue reading
Contact us
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Email bnc@rbwm.gov.uk
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Email ecology@wokingham.gov.uk
