image: An aerial view of part of Chesil and the Fleet SSSI, which is designated for its coastal lagoon seagrass beds and vegetated shingle saltmarsh – Open Government Licence v3.0
Natural England has published a letter outlining a series of improvements to their planning service for Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) to maximise environmental outcomes and respond to the government’s ambition for growth.
GOV.UK writes:
The purpose of the letter is to set out Natural England’s shift to focusing on high risk and high opportunity casework, with an emphasis on strategic engagement and delivering solutions upfront. We also want to emphasise the importance of high-quality applications, as well as the need to reduce the levels of unnecessary consultations we receive, by signposting Local Planning Authorities to Natural England’s new Impact Risk Zones delivery advice service. These changes are being implemented to enable Natural England to maximise environmental outcomes, respond more effectively to the government’s ambition for growth through planning reforms, and improve the service we provide to Local Planning Authorities.
For more info on the ‘Impact Risk Zones Tool’ see Natural England
