Nature Restoration Fund for Development and Planning in England

For years across England, housing and infrastructure projects have been delayed due to environmental restrictions. The Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) was introduced in the Planning Reform UK to support restoration, improvement, and protection of natural environments. The developers can contribute to strategic conservation projects and speed up planning approvals. The Estate Agents Ilford will guide developers about how NRF works, its benefits, and possible risks.

What is the Nature Restoration Fund?

In March 2025, the government of the UK introduced a Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which has a key element of the Nature Restoration Fund. Natural England is the UK government’s statutory advisor for the natural environment in England. It refers to NRF as a major pathway to accelerate sustainable development and conservation of nature.

Instead of managing personally for environmental protection, the developers will pay a set fee called a levy to the NRF. The levy will be used for environmental restoration or conservation projects on a large scale.

Why the Nature Restoration Fund was introduced

The natural ecosystem, which is crucial for clean water, air, and biodiversity, is degrading day by day due to particular developments. 

• The current planning system in England has limitations despite acting upon the regulations to protect species and habitats at the site level. 
• The Nature Restoration  Fund will streamline the planning process for developers who face delays and uncertainty about approvals and costs.
•  Local authorities typically struggle to manage the impacts on habitats and species, which will be strategically addressed by NRF.

How the Nature Restoration Fund Works

The NRF provides a flexible and practical approach to evidence-based conservation that directly benefits nature and development plans. The NRF will work from the creation of Environmental Plans follwing monitoring and evaluation process.

Creating Environmental Delivery Plans (EDP)

The NRF brings a strategic approach to improve the environment, where developmental plans have impacted the natural habitat, species, and ecosystems. The whole approach is based on the creation of EDPs (Environmental Delivery Plans), which will define how conservation measures are implemented.

• The plans will be developed by Natural England, based on scientific approaches and experiences of the past. The Environmental Strategies and Local Plans, like LNRS, are considered during preparation.
• The EDP will recognise the significant impact of the specific development on the environment and ensure that the improvement will alleviate the negative effects.
• The plans are flexible and monitored to ensure that the required outcomes are met.

Draft EDPs

Each EDP will contain all the information about how the development affects the environment, and how it can be improved and implemented in the form of an EDP Draft.

1. The EDP will define the environment feature covered by the plan. This can be a protected habitat, species, or site that requires improvement.
2. The draft contains a list of impacts of the developments on the environment, which will be addressed through EDP.
3. The EDPs will clear the map covered by the Environmental Delivery Plans so that developers can identify where plans are applied.
4. The type and scale of development that EDP will support are mentioned.
5. The set of conservation measure which are used to reduce and offset the impact of development on the defined environment.
6. The EDP will set out the terms of the licence that is treated as granted where the environmental feature is a protected species. 
7. The charging schedule will be presented, that include the covering cost of the conservation measures. The developers will pay to meet the legal obligations regarding environmental impacts.
8. The EDPs will go through at least 28-day public and key authorities consultations.
9. If EDPs pass the Overall Improvement Test, they are signed by the Secretary of State.

Developer Contributions

The purpose of the EDP is to set the levy that developers have to pay for NRF. The funding will be used for the implementation of the EDPs. Developers will be able to use an online platform in which they can estimate how much levy they will pay if they use EDP.

The majority of the EDPs are expected to be voluntary. The developers can choose to utilise it for their development by requesting it from Natural England. Once approved, the EDP can be added to the planning application in place of the habitats assessment. The developer is committed to paying the levy after the approval. They are required to pay the levy on a timetable agreed with Natural England. 

Delivery and Monitoring 

Once the EDP comes into force, Natural England will collaborate with service partners and nature recovery groups who have shown interest in the process during marketing. They will run the process of improvements for the delivery of conservation measures. 

Throughout the process of EDP delivery, monitoring plays an important role in collecting scientific evidence and confidence that measures are bringing the required outcomes. During monitoring, it is ensured that GDP measures outweigh the negative impacts of developments. If the monitoring report shows any insufficient improvement, the Secretary of State has the power to amend the measure accordingly. 

Natural England will publish the annual reports to give a landscape view of the NRF process. It will include the amount of funds collected and spent on the implementation of measures.

What Are the Benefits of the NRF Approach

The Nature Restoration Fund set the foundation for the successful implementation of projects that have already shown tangible benefits for development as well as nature.

1. The reforms of the NRF will help to streamline the process of planning approval for developers.
2. These reforms will not only protect wildlife but also require improvements for their conservation.
3. NRF enables action at a large scale to conserve sites and rare species by easing restrictions on where habitat can be improved.
4. Through EDPs, it provides a clear framework for planning and development.
5. It makes developers more certain about environmental obligations and offsets their individual responsibility of managing them.
6. NRF will streamline planning decisions for Local Planners with clear and evidence-based frameworks to determine whether their environmental obligations are met or not.
7. The reforms generate new green finance for local partners to deliver targeted conservation projects as part of the recovery at large scale. 
8. It reduces legal complexity for developers as compared to site-by-site mitigations.

NRF vs. Traditional Site-by-Site Mitigation

The Nature restoration fund differs from the Site-by-Site mitigation plan in the following ways:

How The Risk to Nature Will Be Managed

The Nature Restoration Fund will manage the risk to nature carefully. Key measure include:

• The existing protection measures will remain the same to protect species and sites. The NRF can only be used by developers once the EDPs come into effect.
• The Secretary of State only agrees to the plan when Natural England provides sufficient evidence that these measures will deliver conservation benefits.
• The delivery plans will include defined environments,  timelines, and monitoring arrangements to meet the intended measures.
• The Secretary of State will consider the Environmental Principles Policy Statement, and Natural England will follow the environmental principles when preparing EDPs.
• The principles like precautionary measures, polluter pays, and rectification t source are adhered to and are legally robust.

Implementation Timeline of NRF

The Nature Restoration Fund will follow the implementation timeline covering key milestones:

Winter 2025

• In this phase, the pre-market engagement with private sector nature recovery and service providers is launched.
• The stakeholder engagement on the first EDPs is initiated.
• The secondary legislation to support the implementation of NRF, which includes the design of the levy, is prepared in this phase.

Spring and Summer 2026

From Spring 2026 and Summer onwards, the user will test the NRF digital service, which includes developers or local planning authorities. Guidance will be drafted for NRF service users, private sector providers, and regulators. The secondary legislation for the restoration of the nature levy will be laid before the parliament. The formal consultation on the first nutrient pollution EDPs will begin.

During this timeline, the guidance and support, and skills training for users will be published. Once all the steps are complete and the Secretary of State approves those EDP’s, the first EDPs will officially go live.

Practical Examples Where This Strategic Approach Has Worked

In the Thames Basin, a strategic plan was developed by Natural England to prevent disturbance to protected birds caused by developing housing. Since 2005, the housing has increased by 20% in that Special Protection Area (SPA), but visits to the protection area increased slightly. So the number of birds was not affected.

More than 80 alternative green spaces have been developed to date, and wardens continue to guide visitors to behave responsibly.  So the birds increased by record numbers. The positive effects of these approaches in these areas have resulted in their use in other locations, such as Chiltern Beechwoods and Epping Forest.

Conclusion

In England, the Nature Restoration Fund is a strategic way to balance nature and developmental plans. It streamlines the planning process for large-scale conservation efforts and benefits local authorities, developers, and nature equally. As the first Environmental Delivery Plans go live in 2026, the developers will gain certainty over their environmental obligations, which contribute directly to habitat restoration and species protection.

Frequently Asked Questions