Draft plans for the recovery of nature published

DRAFT plans for the recovery of nature across Warrington and Cheshire have been published.

Supported by Warrington Borough Council and Cheshire East Council and published by Cheshire Wesr and Chester Council, as the “responsible body” the proposals are also supported by the Peak District National Park Authority, Natural England, the Environment Agency and Forestry Commission..
The Environment Act 2021 required all areas in England to establish Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) aimed at bringing public, private and voluntary sectors together to work more effectively for nature’s recovery and enable a collective effort to be focussed where it will have most benefit.

Cllrr Louise Gittins, leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council said: “The vision of the strategy is to help wildlife thrive, improve our ecological network, to target investment in nature to help us adapt to climate change and improve places where we live and work.
“We’d like as many people as possible throughout the county talking about wildlife, responding to the consultation to help us and our partners to refine the proposals and ideas for what we can do together to deliver a ‘wilder’ Cheshire”.
The draft strategy is community and partnership led. It has been developed through more than a year of extensive public engagement, events, working with the Local Nature Partnership and a huge range of individual stakeholder conversations across Cheshire West, Cheshire East and Warrington, to develop a vision, priorities and proposed actions to be taken for nature.

The draft LNRS can be viewed at www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/LNRSconsultation where everyone can find out more and complete the survey, with links to draft maps to assist.
The document will also be available at several libraries and public locations, promoted on the website, with paper copies and other formats available on request.
The councils are keen for landowners to review the strategy and the places that have been mapped with potential for investment and improvements to benefit nature. They want to know where landowners are keen to work with partners, to attract resources and offer support to help nature over the next five to ten years.
It is intended that feedback from this consultation will help further shape a final ‘Cheshire and Warrington Local Nature Recovery Strategy’ that should be agreed and adopted by all three councils by mid-summer.
Feedback from the consultation will be made available on the council websites. It is intended that the Local Nature Partnership will work with the councils to develop an action plan to support the strategy, to agree how its members can work together to deliver agreed priorities, drive positive change and encourage broader action all to help nature across Cheshire and Warrington.