Nature Restoration Fund (NRF)
What is the NRF
The Nature Restoration Fund is a new mechanism introduced by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (Royal Assent: December 2025). It allows developers — primarily housing developers and infrastructure promoters — to make a financial contribution to the NRF rather than delivering Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) directly on or adjacent to their development sites.
The NRF then uses pooled contributions to fund strategic, landscape-scale nature recovery that is ecologically more effective than piecemeal on-site BNG.
How it works
- Developer applies for planning permission (housing, infrastructure NSIP, etc.)
- Instead of arranging individual BNG, developer contributes to NRF
- NRF funds are directed to Nature Recovery Projects coordinated by Natural England and Defra
- Projects deliver the required biodiversity uplift at landscape scale
The NRF is administered by Natural England, which prepares Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs) — spatial plans identifying where and how nature recovery funding will be deployed.
Why it matters
The NRF is the government’s primary proposed resolution to the housing-biodiversity tension:
- 1.5 million homes require BNG under the Environment Act 2021 (mandatory BNG: 10% net gain)
- On-site BNG at scale is often ecologically sub-optimal (fragmented small patches)
- NRF pools contributions to fund larger, more effective habitat creation
- Removes per-site BNG negotiation as a planning bottleneck
Status
- Enabled by PIA 2025 (Royal Assent December 2025)
- Natural England preparing first EDPs
- Commitment: mhclg-nature-restoration-fund (delivery tracking page — not yet created)
- BNG for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs): mandatory from May 2026
Key uncertainty: Natural England capacity
Natural England must prepare EDPs covering all geographies where housing and NSIP development will occur. This is a significant institutional capacity demand — Natural England is simultaneously processing BNG requests and SSSI condition assessments. No published capacity assessment is available in wiki sources.
Tensions
- housing-biodiversity — NRF is proposed as the resolution mechanism; its effectiveness depends on NE institutional capacity and EDP quality
- planning-timelines-2030-targets — NRF enabled in December 2025; EDPs must be in place before the mechanism can function; tight timeline given 2030 nature targets
- clean-power-marine-environment — NRF applies to energy NSIPs as well as housing; offshore wind developers can use NRF to offset marine environmental impacts (subject to EDP coverage)