Decision details

To seek the approval of the Portfolio Holder for Greener Communities for the draft Oxfordshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy to be published for public consultation.

Resolved

(1)          That the draft Oxfordshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy be approved for public consultation.

The Environment Act 2021 establishes the requirement on Local Authorities to publish a Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS). Oxfordshire County Council is the Responsible Authority (RA) for Oxfordshire and each of the District Councils the City Council and Natural England are Supporting Authorities (SA’s).

Supporting Authorities are required to confirm in writing that they are content for the consultation to proceed within 28 days of the RA providing them with the consultation draft of the LNRS. The council received the consultation documents on 6 September 2024, and the deadline for confirming is 8 October 2024.

The Council’s ecologist has been closely involved in the preparation and drafting of the LNRS, and there has been a series of public and stakeholder engagement events. The Draft LNRS documents have now been drafted based on the feedback from the engagement exercise and on input from a wide variety of biodiversity experts. Officers are satisfied that the draft document is fit for publication and will contribute towards the Council’s environmental sustainability objectives.

Option 1: Do not confirm that Cherwell DC is content for the public consultation to commence.

Option 2: To object to public consultation on the draft LNRS.

Both of these options have been rejected as Officers have been closely involved in all stages of the development and preparation of the Draft LNRS and are content that the draft strategy would be substantively beneficial to meeting the Council’s environmental sustainability objective and should proceed to public consultation.

None