Nature recovery needs money if nature recovery strategies are to be delivered as we reported in a post on 1 February. This followed a report in The Yorkshire Post that North Yorkshire Council had not yet received any funding to deliver a nature recovery strategy after being told by the government to prepare the plan.
ACE immediately wrote to our local MP, Sir Julian Smith asking him to pursue the government for the funds as a matter of urgency, so that work can get underway.
Sir Julian quickly raised the matter with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Mary Creagh MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Nature replied as follows on 13 February: ‘Thank you for your email of 2 February to the Secretary of State on behalf of your constituent, Sarah Wiltshire about Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS). I am replying as the Minister responsible for this policy area. LNRS are designed to help local partners focus their efforts where they will have the greatest impact for nature. They do this by setting out a shared, locally agreed set of priorities and proposed actions. This means that national and local funding, from both public sources and private investment, can be used more efficiently because it is guided by a single, coherent strategy for each of the 48 LNRS areas’.
‘LNRS also link closely with the planning system and will help organisations across the Defra Group, including Natural England, the Environment Agency and the Forestry Commission, to make better-informed decisions about their work in each area. LNRS do not themselves deliver projects or create new duties for land managers. Instead, they help local partners – including councils, public bodies, landowners and community groups – to align their existing funding and activities towards locally agreed priorities’.
‘Preparing the LNRS has already brought together a wide range of people and organisations with an interest in nature recovery. In York and North Yorkshire, for example, there has been extensive collaboration with the farming sector, and this is clearly reflected in the final Strategy. Maintaining this momentum will be important for successful delivery. To support this, in June 2025 we set out the expectation that each responsible authority should take on a role coordinating local delivery activity. Funding to support this coordination role will be confirmed in due course. Thank you once again for taking the time to contact the Secretary of State about this important issue’.
So no money yet – it “will be confirmed in due course.” So next stop the Treasury?