Agenda item

For action: To consider a paper presenting the annual report of the Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership and the draft Oxfordshire Nature Finance Strategy.

The Partnership considered the Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership, (OLNP) Annual report which gave an overview of the OLNP’s activity and highlighted progress to date including work undertaken to create a framework for natural finance in the county; support provided to local authorities in preparing for mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain; and establishment of six focussed working groups that enabled partners to support one another delivering aspects of the OLNP’s aim and purpose. In addition, the Partnership was presented with Oxfordshire Nature Strategy which it was asked to endorse.

Richard Benwell, Chair of the OLNP presented the report and strategy to the meeting. He highlighted the importance of nature as an asset for Oxfordshire and the work undertaken in partnership with the University of Oxford to establish a value to Oxfordshire which was estimated to be around £500m of added value. However, this was still likely to be an underestimate of the impact of nature in supporting the county’s residents’ health and wellbeing. Unfortunately, Oxfordshire’s natural environment was currently in decline in common with other counties. It was positive, therefore, that a local nature partnership had been established for Oxfordshire and the OLNP was grateful for the support it received from Oxfordshire local authorities and the Future Oxfordshire Partnership itself.

The OLNP was focussing on three key priorities to seek to ensure Oxfordshire was one of the foremost counties in reversing the decline of nature in England:

·           That a plan was in place for local nature recovery, (LNRS) by assisting Oxfordshire County Council as the responsible body for the strategy and in encouraging the County Council to go beyond the minimum baseline and that the LNRS was applied across local authorities in Oxfordshire.

·           To map areas with poor access to nature in light of the link between health and wellbeing and the future of nature. This was in light of the growth of non-communicable disease and ill health which touched upon issues such as access to nature, safe drinking water etc.

·           Finding innovative, but robust and ethical ways for levering in additional private sector investment in nature to supplement public funds in reversing nature’s decline. It was estimated that there was approximately a £800m deficit in funding to reverse the decline of nature in Oxfordshire alone over the next two years. The Local Nature Strategy had been designed as vehicle for high integrity investment and to provide a pipeline of bankable investable projects. Oxfordshire’s local authorities could play a helpful role in helping to leverage in funds by offering seed finance and sharing some of the risk to make Oxfordshire one of the premier counties in accessing natural capital.

The Chair welcomed the update and clarified that although the Partnership could endorse the Local Nature Finance Strategy it could not make decisions on its adoption for the individual councils who would wish to consider and discuss the financial and other implications for themselves.

RESOLVED:

1.     That the Future Oxfordshire Partnership notes the progress described in the annual report.

2.     That the Future Oxfordshire Partnership notes the importance of continuing to support the Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership, which is aligned to several outcomes of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision.

3.     That the Future Oxfordshire Partnership endorses the Nature Finance Strategy subject to noting that it is for individual councils to take decisions about its adoption.

4.     That the Future Oxfordshire Partnership considers how it can support delivery of the Nature Finance Strategy.