Natural England
 |
|
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1 October 2006 |
| Jurisdiction | England |
| Headquarters | York, England |
| Employees | 2,241 (2015) |
| Annual budget | £194 million (2015) |
| Agency executives |
|
| Parent agency | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |
| Website | www.gov.uk/natural-england |
Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, freshwater and marine environments, geology and soils, are protected and improved. It also has a responsibility to help people enjoy, understand and access the natural environment.
Natural England focuses its activities and resources on four strategic outcomes:
As a non-departmental public body (NDPB), Natural England is independent of government. However, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has the legal power to issue guidance to Natural England on various matters, a constraint that was not placed on its predecessor NDPBs.
Its powers include defining ancient woodlands, awarding grants, designating Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Sites of Special Scientific Interest, managing certain national nature reserves, overseeing access to open country and other recreation rights, and enforcing the associated regulations. It is also responsible for the administration of numerous grant schemes and frameworks that finance the development and conservation of the natural environment, for example environmental stewardship, the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, environmentally sensitive areas, and the Access to Nature Scheme. It has been severely criticised recently for ignoring scientific data and granting extended badger cull licences to DEFRA.
...
Wikipedia