The Kent and Medway Local Nature Recovery Strategy – published document

The Kent and Medway Local Nature Recovery Strategy sets out the county’s priorities for nature recovery and the recommended actions to deliver them. This spatially framed Strategy also identifies where in the county this action should be targeted to deliver the greatest outcomes for habitats and species.

This first-of-its-kind strategy for the county has been prepared by Kent County Council, appointed by Defra as Responsible Authority. It is one of 48 strategies across England, with the shared aim of halting and reversing the decline of nature.  The Kent and Medway Local Nature Recovery Strategy has been developed with extensive input from partners and stakeholders, with over 1,000 individuals attending events designed to enable full participation in the process.

Understanding the elements of the Local Nature Recovery Strategy

The Local Nature Recovery Strategy is a set of agreed priorities for Kent and Medway’s nature recovery, with spatially framed potential measures to deliver them.  A priority is the outcome we want to see for nature. A potential measure is the proposed action to deliver the priority. They must be practical and achievable.

The local habitat map is a map of the Strategy area that provides a clear visual way for groups and individuals to understand the areas which are, or could become, of particular importance for biodiversity and the environment to target nature recovery action. The mapped parts include:

• location and extent of areas identified as being of particular importance for biodiversity
• locations for which potential measures have been proposed
• location and extent of identified areas that could become of particular importance for biodiversity

Areas of particular importance for biodiversity are the Strategy area’s national conservation sites (National Nature Reserve, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Areas, Special Areas of Conservation, Marine Conservation Zones and Ramsar), Local Nature Reserves, Local Wildlife Sites and irreplaceable habitat. The areas eligible for inclusion in this map is tightly defined by the Local Nature Recovery Strategy regulations.

Potential measures mapping identifies where the action determined as necessary for our nature recovery priorities should be strategically targeted to achieve the greatest gains for biodiversity and deliver the widest environmental benefits.

Areas that could become of particular importance for biodiversity comprise the extent of the potential measures, with areas of particular importance for biodiversity excluded. These are the areas where the Strategy proposes effort should be concentrated to restore habitat, to achieve the greatest gains for nature and to derive the greatest benefits from a healthy, functioning environment. They are the areas of Kent and Medway where targeted action will enable us to deliver on the priorities laid out by the Strategy.

Wider measures are proposed actions which would be similarly beneficial over wide areas or those where it was not possible to determine specific locations to carry out the proposed action. Collectively, these wider measures identify areas of additional opportunities for nature recovery but do not form a part of the formal Strategy’s local habitat map.

Priority species are species the Strategy has determined should be prioritised for recovery action. They were identified from an initial list of threatened and locally significant species.

Within the Strategy document you will also find:

• a description of the Strategy area and its biodiversity. This includes a general overview in the Strategy area description with more detail alongside the relevant habitat and species priorities in the statement of biodiversity priorities
• an overview of how the distribution and extent of habitats has changed
• an account of pressures on nature and challenges to its recovery
• the national and local strategic context for the Local Nature Recovery Strategy
• the opportunities for recovering and enhancing biodiversity
• wider environmental issues affecting part or all of the Strategy area which changes in land use or management, nature-based solutions could help to address