Natural Englands Advice on Development Projects

Tender description

Natural England provides advice to developers and Local Planning Authorities (LPA’s) to ensure compliance with environmental legislation and the delivery of National Planning Policy framework (NPPF) policies to protect and enhance the environment. Natural England has published standards for responses to development management consultations to guide its engagement and identify where we will prioritise our resources. Natural England wishes to understand how effective our advice is (both written and face to face), in securing positive natural environment outcomes, which comply with the National Planning Policy framework and deliver locally appropriate solutions to environmental issues. We wish to assess selected medium and high priority casework to understand how our advice is being taken on board and whether environmental elements are fully implemented. The research should look at the full range of environmental topics covered in the NPPF that Natural England has responsibility for (including biodiversity, landscape, soils, access and recreation, etc.) in relation to the selected cases. The findings will be used to inform future Natural England engagement in development management and the tools that we utilise. It will also assist discussions with local planning authorities, stakeholders and developers on ways of working that make the most effective use of Natural England’s expertise and best assist them in the preparation of sound project proposals and decisions.