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ARTICLE · 30 SEPTEMBER 2026

We’re Going Wild: Nature Restoration Levy And The First Draft Environmental Delivery Plan

Lester Aldridge LLP
Lester Aldridge LLP
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The UK government has introduced a radical new National Planning Policy Framework alongside groundbreaking Nature Restoration Levy Regulations, fundamentally reshaping how development impacts on protected habitats are managed. This policy shift moves away from project-by-project environmental assessments toward strategic-scale nature restoration funded through a developer levy system. Will this new approach successfully balance the urgent need for housing and infrastructure with legal obligations to restore

United KingdomEnvironment
Matt Gilks
Matt Gilks
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As summer fades into autumn and aestival wildfires are forgotten, the government has kicked off the new season with a radical, rule-based National Planning Policy Framework (“NPPF”). This carefully considered reworking underscores policy support for the protection of statutorily designated sites valued for their scientific interest, beauty or wildlife value. In my view, it is the most binary and directive national policy document produced by central government since the inception of the post-war planning code.

The Nature Restoration Levy Arrives

Of not unrelated significance is the publication of Nature Restoration Levy Regulations 2026 (“NRL regulations”). The levy (“NRL”) came into force on 11 September 2026. Facilitated by the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, the regulations mark the most recent attempt by Whitehall to introduce an alternative approach to the management of competing imperatives: the pressing need to support residential and other development and to give

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