How does the Strategy inform what action and where?

You may be interested in knowing where has been identified as the key areas for a specific habitat type – this might be a broad habitat group, like grasslands, or a specific habitat, like lowland meadows.

You can view these on the map by selecting all the potential measures that start with the relevant prefix. Continuing the example, this would be looking at mapped measures that start with GL, if your interest is in all grasslands, or GL3 if your interest is specifically lowland meadows.

This will show you where in the county the Strategy has identified action should be targeted for that broad habitat group and/or specific habitats. The habitat prefixes can be found here.  When viewing the maps, you may find that more than one potential measure is identified for an area – guidance on prioritising measures can be found here.

You may be interested in knowing where in the county has been identified as the key areas for a particular action. This might be actions that relate to one of the Strategy principles, for instance ‘more’, or a particular action you have seen identified against a priority.

You can view these by selecting the specific measure, using the reference number. If you wanted to see where actions delivering ‘better’ for lowland meadow have been mapped, you would select the map for GL3.1. If you wanted to see where the potential measure ‘Increase the extent of high quality, connected lowland meadow by creating new lowland meadow sites, in close proximity to core/good condition sites’ has been mapped, you would select the map for GL3.2.

A searchable list of potential measures is available here

You can view more than one potential measure at a time. When doing so, you may find that more than one potential measure is identified for an area – guidance on prioritising measures can be found here.

You may be interested in knowing if any action has been identified at a specific location – whether that is land you own or manage, land where you volunteer or land that is of particular interest to you.  You can use the online maps to look at what potential measures have been mapped to that land – full instructions on how to use the map to do this is provided here.

If there are no potential measures identified, you should also look at the wider measures mapping (see below) – while these are not a constituent part of the areas that could become of particular importance to biodiversity, they have been identified as offering a wider opportunity for nature recovery.

If the area of land you are interested in has a statutory national or international designation (Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, Ramsar sites and National Nature Reserves), you may still find potential measures mapped. These do not override any existing management for the site, and it is essential that the existing designated features and the legal processes and guidance are checked and followed prior to delivering the suggested measure.

If there are neither potential measures nor wider measures mapped to the area of interest, this does not mean that it holds no value for biodiversity, or that it does not offer any opportunity to support the recovery of nature. It is simply that, within the requirements of the Local Nature Recovery Strategy potential measures mapping, it has not been identified as significant at a strategic-county scale.

When viewing the maps, you may find that more than one potential measure is identified for an area – guidance on prioritising measures can be found here.

Mapping of potential measures for the Strategy’s priority species has not been developed, due to the complex nature of the bespoke action required.

To aid locating where action could be taken, priority species heat maps have been developed for a range of habitat assemblages. These maps identify the areas that are considered to offer the most benefits for priority species, using the density of priority species for that habitat assemblage as a proxy. These maps are indicative and are intended to provide additional and supporting information for delivery. They should be used in consultation with species experts, when delivering action for priority species.

These maps are not currently available online but will be in due course.

In some locations, more than one potential measure is identified. This is to ensure that no opportunity for nature recovery is missed and that broad areas consider a range of habitats, to create the mosaic of habitats that nature recovery needs.

Where the most appropriate measure, based on the site, is not clear following a local site assessment, the Strategy provides a recommended approach to aid the selection of the most appropriate measure. It is advised that professional advice is sought from a land advisor, nature conservation body or another appropriately qualified source.

The selection approach can be viewed here.

Users of the Strategy and its mapping may be concerned about the ‘white space’ in the local habitat map, which indicates that the area is not mapped as being – or could become – of particular importance for biodiversity.

Every area has a biodiversity value and is important in the recovery of nature. This Strategy was developed under the project title Making Space for Nature, and that is absolutely what we need to do in every part of the county’s landscape if our wildlife is to have the room it needs to return to a thriving state.

However, as noted by the Local Nature Recovery Strategy guidance, indiscriminate or widespread mapping of areas will not aid the targeting of available resources. Therefore, the Strategy is required to determine and map the areas that will have the greatest impact on achieving the priorities.

An unmapped area does not mean that no action should be taken – and there are measures that can be taken indiscriminately across the county. A number of the priorities have mapped wider measures – these are measures identified as valuable to the recovery of a particular habitat but which could only be mapped to the extent of that habitat, rather than as prioritised areas. While these do not feature in the Strategy’s local habitat map, they play an important role in directing broad action across the whole of the Strategy area and collectively fill in much of the white space.

In addition, under many of the priorities, there are land management and land-use principles, which can be applied to that habitat. These principles can be applied to that particular habitat anywhere in the county – it does not need to be habitat mapped in the local habitat map.

A list of the wider measures which can be viewed on the online mapping tool can be found here.

The potential measures mapping has an important role in the delivery of meaningful biodiversity net gain. Biodiversity net gain is a mandatory requirement that aims to make sure that development has a measurably positive impact on biodiversity. This gain is calculated using a standardised metric which identifies the biodiversity value of the land lost and the biodiversity gained.

The 2025 updated planning guidance notes that Local Nature Recovery Strategies will identify areas where habitat creation, restoration or enhancement would be most beneficial for nature recovery and wider environmental outcomes, and that the strategies can play a critical role in supporting offsite gains to be delivered in a way that maximises biodiversity benefits, when these are required to achieve a development’s biodiversity gain objective. This can help to support bigger and more joined-up areas in which our wildlife can thrive.

Local Nature Recovery Strategies are designed to promote the delivery of offsite biodiversity gain in the right places, where offsite provision is needed to meet the biodiversity gain condition for a development and it cannot be met in full through onsite habitat enhancements.

The Local Nature Recovery Strategy can be used as a key source of information about strategic approaches to offsite biodiversity net gain delivery and connections to existing habitat, when local planning authorities are carrying out their functions in respect of biodiversity net gain.

The statutory biodiversity metric formula takes different factors into account, including the habitat’s size, condition, type and strategic significance. Strategic significance is the local significance of the habitat based on its location and habitat type. Where a Local Nature Recovery Strategy has been published, high strategic significance (and the associated score) is applied when:

• the location of the habitat parcel has been mapped in the Local Nature Recovery Strategy as an area where a potential measure has been proposed to help deliver the priorities of the Strategy; and
• the proposed intervention is consistent with the mapped potential measure in the Local Nature Recovery Strategy for the habitat parcel.

More information can be found here.

The purpose of the Strategy is to provide a framework for nature recovery, directing action to where it is most needed and where it will deliver the greatest gains. It does not offer any formal, or otherwise, protection, which can only be provided through statutory designations or local planning policy.

Throughout the document, the term ‘safeguard’ is used. In the context of this Strategy, this does not imply a formal protection nor the prevention of potentially impactful activities, unless they have already been identified within an existing and adopted Local Plan or an established legal protection. Safeguarding may be delivered by setting aside land but it also refers to active management that prevents loss and damage, using buffers to minimise human impacts, and connecting habitats to increase resilience. Where measures refer to safeguarding areas, this does not mean that nothing can happen in these areas, but that appropriate action should be taken to support the habitats and species they are notable for.

Local authorities may choose to use the Strategy to help identify land that should be set aside for the purposes of nature recovery but there is no requirement on them to do so. The Strategy offers direction and proposed measures that can assist public bodies in meeting their duties relating to the recovery of nature.