Worcestershire is home to an amazing diversity of landscapes and wildlife, with nationally significant resources of:

• traditional orchards
• ancient woodlands
• floodplain meadows

Worcestershire contains nationally protected landscapes including parts of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB’s) and internationally protected sites such as Bredon Hill Special Area of Conservation. Nature underpins our society and economy, providing us with clean air, water, soil and carbon storage. Access to nature is vital for our physical and mental wellbeing. 

Despite this, our natural environment faces unprecedented pressures: since the 1970s around half of our biodiversity has been lost, with a fifth of species regularly monitored across the UK now facing extinction.

The nation’s State of Nature Report illustrates how species such as

• hedgehog and turtle dove have declined by 95% and 98% respectively
• only 3% of our nation’s wildflower meadows have survived since the second world war

Of these remaining meadows, around 20% are thought to be found here in Worcestershire.

Worcestershire County Council has been appointed as the Responsible Authority for preparation of the county’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS). This strategy, alongside those prepared by other Responsible Authorities across England, will be a key mechanism for delivery of Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan. 

The LNRS will be the definitive spatial plan for nature’s recovery in Worcestershire. It will identify local priorities for action that will restore our habitats and landscapes.  

Decisions about where and how to recover nature will be reached through consultation and in collaboration with a wide range of people, groups and organisations across Worcestershire. We want everyone to have their say. 

The Council has brought together a steering group of key partners to assist in preparation of the LNRS. This group is currently working to prepare a State of Nature report and a draft Local Habitats Map to form part of an LNRS ‘Issues and Options’ consultation in early 2024. 

Further information about LNRS preparation and detail of any consultations will be published here when available.

If you would like to opt-in to receive direct communications about the preparation of the LNRS visit Get Involved In Planning and click on the ‘contact us’ link. 

Further information on GOV.UK Local Nature Recovery Strategies