Lancashire County Council are undertaking a statutory consultation Lancashire’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy. At the end of this post is a Call to Action to complete their survey. Please do add your voice.

Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) are a system of strategies for nature and environmental improvement required by law under the Environment Act 2021. Lancashire’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) aims to stop species loss, help local wildlife flourish and provide a wide range of environmental benefits, whilst making our environment more resilient. It also has a focus on improving life for local people, by driving for more equitable access to nature, and improved health outcomes.

Full details here:

https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/council/strategies-policies-plans/environmental/local-nature-recovery-strategy/

From this website (emphasis mine):

However, reflecting global and national trends, Lancashire’s biodiversity has been declining. We want to halt this decline and, in time, reverse biodiversity loss. We want to enhance and restore our best nature-rich sites e.g., Special Protection Areas (SPAs), Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and Biological Heritage Sites (BHS), create new sites where there is opportunity to do so, and provide better access to natural environments that everyone can enjoy.

Interestingly, not one mention of the word renewables. A bit of a surprise as this consultation is being run by Debbie King, Head of Environment & Climate! The full strategy document can be found here:

https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/media/963895/lancashire-local-nature-recovery-strategy.pdf

Table 11 on page 68 discusses priorities related to peat. Again, at no point in this table is any mention of renewables, but many references to increasing climate resilience.

I found the only mention of wind farms in their discussions on this web page:

https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/council/strategies-policies-plans/environmental/local-nature-recovery-strategy/questions/peatland/

Essentially, identifying this is one of the main uses of upload peat – but no comment on either pros or cons!

Their Habitat Map can be found here:

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/92a5cd8951b84c65b9cd842f5ffc2333/page/Habitat-Map

I noticed that although much of Rooley Moor Road is outside the geographic boundary of Lancashire, some parts of the proposed wind farm site are marked as Special Areas of Conservation, such as Hail Storm Hill. There are also Biological Heritage Sites in the affected area.

Call to Action

This is a link to the survey:

https://online1.snapsurveys.com/Interview/dc273a7b-00fd-49be-bd48-6c2a7679a916

Please do complete this survey (it took me about 10 minutes), emphasising that we need to preserve valuable peat moorlands, like Scout Moor, from aggressive developments like Scout Moor 2. Please mention the fact that the Scottish Carbon Calculator is under review having been found not fit for purpose when for calculating carbon payback with respect to peat moorland. More details here:

Meeting with Elsie Blundell 30th May 2025 – Carbon Neutrality

Thank you for your help!