Norfolk and Suffolk councils given authority and funding to help nature's recovery
Norfolk County Council and Suffolk County Council have been formally appointed by Government as responsible authorities for preparing a Local Nature Recovery Strategy for their respective counties.
This means that they will be working together to help improve wildlife habitats and reverse the decline of biodiversity across the region, working with local communities to develop a tailored nature recovery strategy for their areas.
They will also work with other local planning authorities, the Broads Authority, Natural England, and a wide range of stakeholders and partners, including farming and landowner groups.
This is all part of Government's ambition to further drive nature recovery, with 48 individual local authorities across the country receiving allocations from a £14 million funding pot. Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils will receive £333,000 and £282,000 respectively over two years to fund this work. With the best ways to support nature recovery depending on local character and geography, Local Nature Recovery Strategies will help communities map out the action needed in their area to restore nature.
The Norfolk and Suffolk councils have already been working closely with each other, jointly hosting the Norfolk and Suffolk Nature Recovery Partnership, and a host of other stakeholders and interested parties to prepare for this moment. The two authorities have pooled resources and expertise and to ensure that strategies effectively join up across the two counties to the wider benefit of nature and people.
The Strategies will focus on how to improve habitats and protect the natural environment across the region, with local approaches tailored to the specific circumstances of each area. Norfolk and Suffolk are home to a variety of beautiful and unique landscapes, from the chalk streams of the Norfolk Coast to the Stour estuary at the south east of Suffolk and across many habitats in between, and specific policies will be drawn up to best protect and nurture each location.
Future plans will include working closely with other neighbouring counties, to identify and support opportunities for nature recovery at sufficient scale to really benefit wildlife."
Councillor Eric Vardy, Norfolk County Council's Cabinet Member for Environment, said:
"We're incredibly lucky to live in a part of the country that is home to so many beautiful landscapes and unique biosystems, but that luck comes with a duty to preserve and protect these areas for future generations. Local Nature Recovery Strategies will form a key part of that work, alongside our commitments laid out in our Environmental Policy and Climate Strategy to give nature space to recover and grow and to encourage a thriving wildlife community.
"Our countryside and natural environment is a key part of our identity here in Norfolk, and we're absolutely committed to nurturing it. Our work with Suffolk County Council will help protect nature throughout our counties and give it a chance to recover, to grow and to flourish for many generations to come."
Councillor Richard Rout, Suffolk County Council's Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Environment, said:
"Protecting and enhancing the environment is one of our core priorities and we know how important it is to our residents. Nature is critical to everything we do and value - the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soils we grow food on. It is essential to many of our businesses, attracts people and investment to the county and is vital to people's health and wellbeing.
"SCC has made ambitious commitments to restore nature across our estate and through services such as highways, and I welcome this opportunity for us to work with everyone else who cares about and can help nature recovery in Suffolk to develop an ambitious but achievable strategy to achieve that."