From 1 October 2006, all public bodies in England and Wales have a Duty to have regard to biodiversity in exercising their functions

High brown fritillary_Rob Petley-Jones (Natural England)

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click here to view the biodiversity audit of north west england

In this Section

Priority Habitats

Useful Documents & Downloads

Brochure for Local Authorities_Wildlife Trusts [4.11 MB]
Local Authority Guidance [317.56 KB]
Public Authority Guidance [365.69 KB]
Appendices to Guidance [432.20 KB]
NERC Act [505.13 KB]

NERC Biodiversity Duty

What is it?

The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act came into force on 1^st Oct 06. Section 40 of the Act states:

‘Every public authority must, in exercising its functions, have regard, so far as is consistent with the proper exercise of those functions, to the purpose of conserving biodiversity.’

This Duty extends to all public bodies the biodiversity duty of s.74 of the CRoW Act, which placed a duty on Government and Ministers. DEFRA has produced guidance to assist public bodies in fulfilling their Duty. The guidance covers 4 key themes:

Policies, strategies and biodiversity
Management of public land and buildings
Planning, infrastructure and development
Education, advice and awareness

See DEFRA for copies of the full Guidance, or download copies from this page.

Who does it apply to?

The Duty applies to a wide range of organisations including:

Local Authorities – unitary, county, district, metropolitan, and community, parish and town councils;
Central Government departments
Departmental executive agencies;
Government Office North West;
Non-Ministerial Government Departments;
Non-departmental public bodies;
NHS Trusts;
North West Regional Assembly;
Utilities – including United Utilities and other energy suppliers in the region;
All other bodies carrying out functions of a public character under a statutory power. This includes: Police Authorities; Fire Service; Prison Service; Museums; Schools; Higher Educational Institutions, parish councils etc.

For further details of the Duty, or for examples of how the Duty can be applied, please see the documents for download on this page.

For details of the Priority Habitats under this Duty, please see the sub-section from this page.