UK Government Strategy Web

Create or restore 250,000ha of wildlife-rich habitat by 2030

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Create or Restore 250,000ha of Wildlife-Rich Habitat by 2030

Commitment: Create or restore at least 250,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside SSSIs by 2030. Environment Act 2021 statutory target.

Owner: Defra / Natural England

Target date: 31 December 2030

Metric: Hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside SSSIs created or restored, as monitored by Natural England.

Status: at-risk

Delivery mechanism

Primary delivery mechanism: Environmental Land Management (ELM) — specifically:

  • Countryside Stewardship (CS): Higher-tier agreements for grassland, heathland, and wetland habitat management
  • Landscape Recovery: 20-year agreements for large-scale habitat creation and restoration
  • Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG): Mandatory 10% net gain on all qualifying planning permissions — contributing habitat units

Secondary mechanisms:

  • National Nature Reserves expansion
  • Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) — spatial plans directing habitat investment
  • Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) strategic habitat projects

Key risk: pace of ELM uptake

The target requires a very significant acceleration of habitat creation. The OEP’s 2024 progress assessment found habitat creation rates insufficient to meet the 2030 target at current trajectory.

SFI simplification (January 2026) creates additional risk: the revision of payment rates for actions that take land out of production may reduce farmer uptake of the very actions that contribute toward this target.

Delivery history

  • [2023] Environment Act 2021: statutory target confirmed
  • [January 2025] EIP 2025: reaffirms target; identifies LNRSs as spatial delivery framework
  • [December 2025] PIA 2025: NRF established; mandatory BNG for NSIPs from May 2026
  • [January 2026] SFI simplification: impact on Landscape Recovery uptake being monitored

Tensions

Graph View

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