48 Local Nature Recovery Strategies Covering All of England by End 2025
Commitment: Establish 48 Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) covering every part of England by the end of 2025.
Owner: Defra / Natural England (responsible authorities: upper-tier local authorities, Mayoral Combined Authorities)
Target date: End of 2025
Metric: Number of LNRSs published and covering full national spatial extent.
Status: unknown — deadline passed; no confirmation of delivery in available wiki sources.
What LNRSs are
Local Nature Recovery Strategies are spatial plans that identify priorities and opportunities for nature recovery at local level. They:
- Map habitats, protected sites, and nature recovery opportunities
- Identify strategic priorities for ELM investment
- Provide the spatial framework for Biodiversity Net Gain decisions
- Are prepared by responsible authorities (upper-tier local authorities, MCAs) with Natural England oversight
48 strategies are needed to cover all of England — one per responsible authority area.
Why this matters
LNRSs are the spatial backbone of the nature recovery delivery system. Without them:
- ELM Countryside Stewardship and Landscape Recovery cannot be spatially targeted
- BNG and NRF decisions lack a strategic spatial framework
- The 250,000ha habitat creation target cannot be coherently delivered
Open question
Has the end-2025 deadline been met? Available wiki sources (EIP 2025, dated January 2025) describe this as a future target. No subsequent source confirms all 48 strategies were published. This is a potentially stale claim requiring verification.
Delivery history
- [2021] Environment Act 2021: statutory requirement for LNRSs
- [January 2025] EIP 2025: end-2025 deadline confirmed as commitment
- [End 2025] Status: unknown — not confirmed in available sources