About the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS)

Background

In late June 2023, we were appointed by Defra as the ‘Responsible Authority (RA)’ to prepare the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) for the county.

• Local nature recovery strategies describe and map important nature recovery actions developed through local engagement.
• They target actions in locations where they are most needed and where those actions could provide the best environmental outcomes as well as wider benefits.
• The strategies will help to join up national efforts to reverse the decline of biodiversity

Four key elements

The strategy contains an interactive map and documents:

• Local Habitat Map
• Statement of Biodiversity Priorities
• Species Priorities List
• Description of the Strategy Area

Using the strategy

The strategy is a tool that you can use to help inform your decisions about nature recovery actions. The strategy isn’t prescriptive; you don’t have to do precisely what it suggests. Instead, it has combined the latest available data and local knowledge to offer recommendations to help inform your nature recovery actions and locations. The recommendations are flexible; you can use local knowledge, ground truthing, and land manager preferences to modify the recommendations and choose the actions that work best in a given area.

Documents and appendices

A large volume of information and documentation has been produced during the preparation and development of this local nature recovery strategy.

Public consultation

• Oxfordshire LNRS consultation responses report (docx format, 7 MB)
• Oxfordshire LNRS consultation responses (Report APPENDIX 3) (docx format, 542 KB)
• All comments and responses, word-for-word
• Read our response to the public consultation (odt format, 3.5 MB)
• View the draft LNRS documents and map. 

National LNRS guidance

• Local Nature Recovery Strategy Statutory Guidance (pdf format, 220 KB)
• Local Nature Recovery Strategies – how to prepare and what to include  (pdf format, 430 KB)
• Identifying and agreeing priorities and potential measures within Local Nature Recovery Strategies  (pdf format, 269 KB)
• Species recovery within LNRS  (pdf format, 300 KB)
• Mapping potential measures in Local Nature Recovery Strategies advice (pdf format, 248 KB)

Webinars and videos

• Watch our webinar from May 2025 showing what we heard in our consultation and what work is planned next.

Map

• Methodology to produce the Local Habitat Map data (pdf format, 1.5 MB)

List of acknowledgements

This list acknowledges the organisations that have made a continued and significant contribution to the LNRS throughout the project's duration, from 2023 to publication in 2025. They have dedicated their time, resources, and knowledge towards making the LNRS map, species list, priorities, and description of Oxfordshire as good as it can be.

Thank you to the project partners: 

• Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust
• Cherwell District Council  
• Chilterns National Landscape*
• Community Action Groups (CAG) Oxfordshire
• Cotswolds National Landscape*
• Country Land and Business Association (CLA)
• Environment Agency (EA)
• Forestry Commission (FC)
• National Farmers Union (NFU)
• Natural England (NE)
• North Wessex Downs National Landscape*
• Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership (OLNP)
• Oxford City Council
• Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP)
• South Oxfordshire District Council
• Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre (TVERC)
• University of Oxford, departments and institutes included the Oxford Martin School, the Agile initiative, the Environmental Change Institute, and the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery.
• Vale of the White Horse District Council
• West Oxfordshire District Council
• Wild Oxfordshire

*Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) were rebranded to National Landscapes in 2023.

Timeline