The North Yorkshire and York Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) was published in January 2026. It sets out local priorities for nature and includes a Local Habitat Map showing existing important sites and areas where new habitat could do the most good.
This matters for development. In the statutory biodiversity metric, habitat created or enhanced in line with a published LNRS can score higher ‘strategic significance’, which can increase the biodiversity units a scheme generates. The council has also published guidance on how to read the Local Habitat Map for BNG. Put simply, well-planned landscaping that links to the LNRS can make BNG targets easier and cheaper to meet.
The LNRS is also a useful guide for landowners thinking about selling off-site biodiversity units, and for anyone wanting their landscape scheme to fit with local nature recovery.
How Root3 can help:
At Root3 Associates, our landscape architects and ecologists worktogether. We use the LNRS to shape landscape designs that look good, work for wildlifeand get the most from the BNG metric. Talk to our Tadcaster team about your site.