Member

Local government has a vital role to play in reducing threats to biodiversity and it will be delivered through measures in the Environment Act 2021, especially local nature recovery strategies. These will be the principal means by which we recover nature in England. Sections 104 to 107 put local authorities in the driving seat in recovering nature in their areas. Section 109(6) and (7) give local authorities clear duties on species recovery. Sections 98 to 101 give local authorities duties regarding biodiversity net gain. There is more, but I think I have made the point that while there is no specific legislation on climate change for local authorities to follow, they have a large number of legal duties on biodiversity and nature recovery imposed by the 2021 Act.