Natural England - Regional and Local Government
Regional and Local Government
Government is pushing forward several legislative changes and statutory guidance aimed at supporting local and regional communities to have greater influence over the decisions and investment that affect them.
What is Regional & Local Government and why is it important to the natural environment?
In 2007, the Local Government & Public Involvement in Health Act gave greater discretion and a strategic role to councils for governing, and introduced a new settlement between central and local government, and between local government, its partners and its citizens.
This and up-and-coming legislation, such as the Local Democracy, Economic Regeneration & Construction Bill, is changing the policy making and delivery landscape at the local and regional level.
This has significant implications for how the natural environment is considered as part of the way places are shaped at the local level. The decision and actions that local authorities and their partners make can have significant benefits as well as impacts on the natural environment.
What is Natural England’s role in Regional & Local Government?
Although it is a national body, Natural England delivers a lot of outcomes through local partnerships. We also consult extensively with other regional and local organisations such as the Regional Development Agencies.
In the last year, along with our Government sponsor, Defra, Natural England has agreed schedules of activity for our engagement with regional planning and associated matters.
Natural England, along with the Environment Agency and Forestry Commission, is working to improve the evidence base for the natural environment in the regions. This will help to ensure that the decisions being made through the newly proposed Regional Strategies are based on a solid understanding of the importance of the natural environment.
Natural England is working with Local Strategic Partnerships - led by local authorities - to develop Sustainable Community Strategies, which set out the long-term vision for an area and identifies the priorities for action.
As a result, Natural England is a partner with over one quarter of local authorities delivering environmental improvements through Local Area Agreements (a three year agreement between a local authority, on behalf of local partners, and central government). Our contribution to the Local Area Agreements (such as action on climate change and biodiversity) and progress on improvements to the locality is measured through a new set of indicators by which the work of local authorities and their partners will be judged.
In future Natural England is likely to be working even more with local and regional partners, including the Audit Commission, as it assesses progress towards the delivery of natural environment outcomes locally, and with groupings of local authorities as they work together on ‘multi-area agreements’ that will integrate delivery of functions across their administrative boundaries.
