Barriers and solutions

Planning has a role, for example biodiversity net gain for new development, but often nature projects work across council services.

Does everyone accept that nature/ climate/ environment are all connected? How does this fit in with their priorities?

Do you have the right people as champions?

Often where activities cross over multiple services and priorities they need champions and teeth and this needs to be politically framed. But they also need revenue and the lack of this can often be the driver.

Do you need to find a senior sponsor in the council such as a Chief Executive, deputy leader or portfolio holder to allow people to spend time on this.

• Who do you need to speak to?
• Are you pushing at open door?
• Is it an environment lead or another portfolio holder?
• Do you also need an officer?

Introducing climate champions at councillor and officer level has created a distinct change of culture at the council, with climate change and ecological impacts now considered in every report, in a similar manner to impacts on equality and finances.

An example of a council Cotswold District Council appointed climate champions to make more progress on climate goals.

When declaring a climate emergency in 2019, Cotswold District Council created a new councillor role: Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Forward Planning. Having this leadership role has boosted the authority’s efforts to meet its climate goals, which include an 80 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, to be achieved without offsetting or use of carbon credits. This means a real cut in emissions in the local area, rather than paying into (potentially distant) schemes to remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Within the context of local authority funding pressures how do you demonstrate the benefits and balance short term pain for long term gain (such as improved air quality, human health and reduced risk of flooding that are more difficult to quantify but essential for sustainable, healthy and more resilient areas)?

Here are some key headline messages that people can use to make the case.

• The UK is bottom 10 per cent globally and worst G7 nation for biodiversity loss. Nature is key to mitigating and adapting to climate change and supporting health and well-being.
• Over half (57 per cent) of the annual value of ecosystem services in England in 2020 was derived from cultural services, predominantly recreation and tourism (£12.4 billion) and health benefits (£5.5 billion) associated with this (ONS 2023).
• There are costs of not acting. It is estimated that the health and social care costs of air pollution in England could reach £5.3 billion by 2035 unless action is taken.
• Did you know? Urban nature-based solutions like green walls and roofs, sustainable drainage systems and street trees have the potential to provide around 30 per cent of the adaptation needed to protect our towns and cities from increased rainfall, flooding and heatwaves by 2030.

Local authority funding pressures

Councils in England face a funding gap of £4 billion over the next two years

Local Government Association, October 2023

• Overwhelming decline in the funding of local authorities whilst responsibilities have remained the same or even increased.
• The capacity of many local authorities to deliver public services has reduced, threatening those without a statutory remit.
• In the absence of a formal mandate and dedicated funding, our natural environment is particularly vulnerable to changing budgets and shifts in government policy.

Making savings, securing funding, investment and generating revenue

How can local authorities make savings, secure funding and investment and generate revenue? What is the return on investment?

• Savings: alternative greenspace management and working across departments
• Funding: traditional funding routes, planning gain and developer contributions
• Investment and revenue: output-based payments for ecosystem services such as Biodiversity Net Gain and carbon

Using evidence to support the business case

How to demonstrate the benefits and balance short term pain for long term gain (such as improved air quality, human health and reduced risk of flooding that are more difficult to quantify but essential for sustainable, healthy and more resilient areas)?

How to convince service leads that have their own priorities and workloads, own savings to make to spend time and resource working on nature recover activities because they have a knock-on benefit for their priorities?

There is an extensive library of research reports on the benefits associated with nature recovery activities such as green infrastructure and nature based solutions.

Key headlines such as those set out in the slide here can be used as part of the evidence base to demonstrate the case when balancing short term pain for long term gain (such as improved air quality, human health and reduced risk of flooding that are more difficult to quantify but essential for sustainable, healthy and more resilient areas).

We particularly like “Making the case for investment in Green Infrastructure in Oxfordshire” produced in 2021 which we have taken a number of key headlines from and its important to note that the ROI will vary depending on the project.

There also the outputs from the Greater Manchester IGNITION project which peer reviewed over 300 studies and includes The Nature-based Solutions to the Climate Emergency report which is really helpful.

Existing economic studies on the value of Green Infrastructure suggest that a 4:1 Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) is a conservative/reasonable assumption That means for £1 invested £4 of benefit are generated.

• A one per cent increase in the amount of greenspace in a ward generates a one per cent increase of the value of a residential property in England.
• Planting of vegetation in streets can reduce street-level pollution concentrations by up to 60 per cent. Vegetation may reduce noise by as much as 50 per cent.
• People with good access to green space are 24 per cent more likely to be physically active.
• Sustainable drainage systems (SUDS) are half the cost of traditional drainage over a 60-year life span.
• During an extreme rainfall event green roofs can retain up to 90 per cent of rainfall.
• Green roof energy savings are 30 kilowatt-hours per square meter or 14 kilograms carbon dioxide per square metre or £5 to 6 square metre per year for heating and air conditioning.

Valuing the natural environment

As a core component of natural capital, biodiversity supports ecosystem services that benefit people and the economy. When thinking about what actions you could take and how to make the case you could consider the value of taking a Natural Capital approach.

A number of local authorities have also been using natural capital accounts to measure the benefits provided by their natural assets to its businesses, public services and residents. Not only do these measure the benefits provided by the natural environment but also provide decision makers at all levels with the tools and evidence to male more informed joined up decisions. These help the user to understand and explain the wide range of benefits flowing from the natural world to a range of.

So in the case of Greater Manchester the total value provided by the nature environment is at least £1billion each year.

• In terms of Air Quality Regulation: Vegetation improves air quality which prevents 370 hospital admissions each year and helps avoid 1,200 life years lost.
• Carbon Sequestration: 50,000 tonnes of dioxide of carbon taken out of the atmosphere each year by Greater Manchester’s woodlands and peat.
• Physical Activity: 135,000 people use green spaces to meet their physical activity guidelines, giving 4,600 Quality-adjusted life-years (QALY).
• Mental Health: 1 million people receive mental health benefits by accessing green spaces, giving a 120,000 point reduction on the General Health Questionnaire Index (GHQ).

If we do not continue to look after our natural environment then we risk losing these benefits with a consequent cost to society.

We know that councils are delivering a range nature recovery activities from small scale quick wins to strategic landscape recovery projects and were keen to understand how they are being delivered across a council, what are the technical barriers, how are these being addressed and who needs to be engaged.

This might be for example - when looking to implement SuDS as part of highway improvement works and there are concerns raised about sightlines and drainage or the installation of a new rain garden in a school and there are concerns about access and safety. How are these concerns addressed?

Upskilling teams

• Upskilling internal teams through greater education and training initiatives will be essential if nature recovery principles and practices are to become established norms.
   
• There is a pressing need for training regarding the biodiversity net gain policy requirements as well as for further information regarding the benefits of delivering nature-based solutions. 
   
• There is also a need for more specialised expertise in-house, particularly within Highways Departments and amongst contractors.
   
• Biodiversity Net Gain resources can be found through PAS provides on-going support for local planning authorities on dedicated BNG pages as well as CIEEM (the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management) BNG resources 
   

• Need to reference real documents and show what is interesting and relevant about them and how they could be used to support delivery of an intervention for example corporate strategy, local plan policy, sustainable community strategy and National Park or National Landscape management plan.
• How a circular approach informed by plans/ strategies in turn needs to be embedded in plans/ strategies to ensure delivery by different services in local authorities.
• Identified projects/ priorities should usefully feed into the Infrastructure Delivery Plan (as this includes green/ blue infrastructure projects and associated funding).
• What types of policy framework are required to make a lasting change?
• Role and importance of LNRS.
• How do local authorities work across other strategies and how do these work together such as catchment management strategies and protected sites strategies?

Key local authority plans and policies

These will have been identified as part of the development local nature recovery strategy and will include:

• local nature recovery strategy
• corporate strategy
• green and blue infrastructure strategy
• local plan and development plan documents
• biodiversity plans
• net zero and climate action strategy/plan
• National Park & National Landscape management plans
• community strategy

Guidance for innovating internal operations

• Gloucestershire Highways Biodiversity Guidance
• Greater Manchester IGNITION project resources
• Oxfordshire Green Infrastructure Report
• SWEEP Alternative Funding Mechanisms for Green Space.