Biodiversity Duty

Biodiversity Duty report 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025

Background

The Environment Act 2021 introduced a strengthened ‘biodiversity duty’ which requires all public authorities in England to consider what they can do to conserve and enhance biodiversity. Since 1 January 2023, all public authorities have been under a statutory duty to conserve and enhance biodiversity.

In 2023 we published Biodiversity Duty statement, which details our policies and objectives for conserving and enhancing biodiversity.

We will report every five years on how we are delivering our policies and achieving our objectives, with the first report to be published no later than 12 weeks after 1 January 2026.

The statutory purposes of National Parks are set out in Section 5 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside  Act of 1949,  as amended by Section 61 of the Environment Act 1995.

These purposes require National Park Authorities to ‘conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the National Park’ (the 'first purpose').

Every five years we publish the 'State of the Park' report. This reports on the indicators in the current Management Plan in readiness for the next plan. The last State of the Park Report was in 2021, and the next report is due in 2026.

National Park Management Plans and their reporting processes are now required to incorporate 10 national environmental targets and indicators that relate to targets and outcomes contained in the Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP). Collectively, they are known as the Protected Landscapes Targets and Outcomes Framework (PLTOF). The PLTOF targets and our progress towards them, based on the current data provided by Natural England, is published annually:

• PLTOF targets and current progress

We will continue to publish our annual progress for the duration of PLTOF.

The Authority's Strategy and Business Plan 2022-27 sets out how the Authority will contribute to meeting Management Plan outcomes (including 1 and 2, which are priority Outcomes for the Authority) as well as a corporate performance outcome.

Annual Business Plan milestones are set by the Authority at the March National Park Authority Committee. These show the actions we will take in the forthcoming year to meet our objectives. Business Plan progress on milestones is reported to the National Park Authority Committee every six months, in December (six-month report) and June (annual report). The following documents relate to milestone setting and progress reporting:

• Business Plan 2025/26 milestones
• Business Plan 6-month progress 2025/26
• Business Plan annual progress 2024/25
• Business Plan annual progress 2023/24

We will continue to set annual Business Plan milestones every year and report on our progress every six and 12 months, to the National Park Authority Committee. A new Strategy and Business Plan will be published in 2027, which will align with the new National Park Management Plan due in 2027.

Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) were introduced through the Environment Act 2021 and require 48 responsible authorities to produce plans that identify local nature recovery and environmental aims and priorities. The National Park Authority is a Supporting Authority to the preparation and publication of two LNRS:

• North Yorkshire and York - including the marine area within 12 nautical miles of the coast
• Tees Valley

These LNRS incorporate key elements of the North York Moors Local Nature Recovery Plan. The National Park Authority has a duty to have regard to the LNRS in exercising our functions and will seek to reflect LNRS priorities as part of the next National Park Management Plan review.

Authority owned land is managed in line with our Statutory Purposes and Management Plan objectives. Eligible land is enrolled in appropriate agri-environment schemes and is managed in line with Natural England objectives for designated sites.

Linking Levisham is a new Landscape Recovery pilot covering the Authority’s landholding at Levisham, as well as land owned and managed by Forestry England, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Defence Infrastructure Organisation and North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Between 2024 and 2026 this scheme will determine options for improving the management of the land for biodiversity, natural capital and carbon sequestration. Relevant actions taken by the Authority are published in the following reports to the National Park Authority Committee:

• Business Plan 6-month progress (Objectives 10 and 11)
• Business Plan annual progress (Objectives 10 and 11)

We will continue producing the above reports at six and 12 months.

The Authority aims to be carbon neutral by 2030. Our Decarbonisation Plan 2023-2030 shows how we will reach this goal. The current Business Plan has an interim target to reduce Authority emissions 75% by 2027. The actions taken towards these targets are in annual and 6-month reports to the National Park Authority Committee:

• Authority annual carbon accounting
• Business Plan 6-month progress (Objective 3)
• Business Plan annual progress (Objective 3)

We will continue producing the above reports at six and 12 months (as applicable).

Local planning authorities that have received developer contributions must publish, at least annually, a statement summarising their developer contributions data. North York Moors National Park publishes a report on how much Section 106 has been collected, where it has been allocated and how it has been spent in the Infrastructure Funding Statement. Section 106 contributions are received from developers to mitigate the harm caused by developments including harm to biodiversity. This includes major S106 contributions from Anglo American for the Woodsmith Mine and from ICL for the Boulby Mine to National Park projects that include woodland creation and natural environment enhancement. Current and previous statements are published at:

• Infrastructure Funding Statement

The Authority does not have Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) in place and therefore contributions are only sought through Section 106 Agreements.

The Defra-funded FiPL programme (July 2021 to 2029) is intended to help farmers and other land managers adapt to future changes in agricultural support, as well as a range of other objectives to benefit nature, climate, people and place.  FiPL's achievements are published annually:

• FiPL case studies year 4 (2024/25)

Planning policy

The current Local Plan for the North York Moors National Park was adopted July 2020. Policies in the Local Plan that meet the first purpose of the National Park are:

• Strategic Policies A, E, F, H
• Policies ENV1-4, 7-8

An Annual report on the Local Plan is presented to the National Park Authority Committee in Autumn each year, the latest available report is the North York Moors Annual Monitoring Report for 2024-25.

The Local Plan review began in 2025 and is continuing. The Authority is preparing a Design Code which will have a specific section on landscape, nature and dark skies.

The Authority has also prepared a Supplementary Planning Document covering policy on dark skies and Planning Advice Notes on biodiversity and Biodiversity Net Gain have been published (and for biodiversity, updated). Both advice notes will be incorporated into the new Design Code.

Development management

North York Moors National Park is a Planning Authority. Determination of planning applications is made in accordance with the Local Plan, other material planning considerations and current wildlife legislation and policy. The Authority's Planning Committee holds regular public meetings.

Planning conditions and informatives are routinely applied to permissions to control factors relevant to preserving and enhancing biodiversity – for example, lighting, operating hours, use of bat boxes and swift bricks.

Future planning decisions will be made in accordance with the next iteration of the Local Plan.