Defra and MHCLG announce proposals for new Nature Restoration Fund

Article summary

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), have announced proposals for a new Nature Restoration Fund as part of the forthcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill. This follows the publication of a planning reform working paper on development and nature recovery in December 2024. The Fund would enable developers to meet environmental obligations more efficiently by pooling their contributions to fund larger, strategic nature interventions. This approach is designed to reduce the burden of individual site-level assessments and mitigation measures. A delivery body, such as Natural England, would be responsible for implementing these interventions, focusing on actions needed to drive protected site and species recovery at a strategic level.