Help us develop our Local Nature Recovery Strategy for County Durham

Background

We are working to develop a Local Nature Recovery Strategy for the county. The Strategy will support the county's diverse range of landscapes and wildlife. We need to create:

• a local habitat map identifying the most valuable existing wildlife areas and also map the areas that could be used for creating or improving habitat for nature in the future
• a statement of biodiversity priorities which will detail the habitats and species which are the most important for the county and include the opportunities, priorities and plans for nature recovery

How we would like you to help

The LNRS will identify our current priorities for nature and help direct resources to those identified habitats and species. It will be updated on a regular basis and these priorities may change in the future.

We need your help in deciding what our priority habitats and species should be in this first version of the LNRS and where we should be concentrating our efforts. We would like you to tell us about your experiences of nature in County Durham, what you think the priorities for nature recovery should be and what are the most important ways to support nature recovery. We also want to know which areas of the county you think are valuable for existing wildlife or where there are opportunities to enhance or create new wildlife spaces.

Have your say

We're also working with local schools, farmers, landowners, businesses, partners and local communities to get their feedback.

Next steps

We'll use the information you provide to help us to develop the draft map and statement of biodiversity priorities. The information gathered will help us determine which habitats and species groups you would like to focus on and this will help us to decide how to improve wildlife habitats.

The drafts will then be shared with you to have a look at and comment on for a second time before being finalised and sent for agreement. We will publish the strategy in the Spring 2025.