There are lots of ways that nature is considered in the Council's strategies and plans. Explore them all below.

General strategies and tools:

• In Gyllyn Warbarth/Cornwall Plan partners set a shared ambition for a cleaner, greener Cornwall that makes space for nature. It’s most relevant section for the natural environment are in the Sustainable Food, Land and Seas transition.
• The Council’s decision-making wheel ensures that all decisions made by Cabinet must consider the impacts on nature. This includes nature-relevant sections on biodiversity, land conversion, pollution, freshwater, ocean health, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Environment strategies:

• Our 2020-2065 Environmental Growth Strategy set our long-term framework for the natural environment. It sets a necessary long-term commitment with 10 pillars to not just conserve but grow nature. It also has a set of indicators that we use to monitor progress.
• The Climate Change Action Plan has a whole strand devoted to natural climate solutions.
• The Flood Risk Management Strategy has as one of its 6 themes ‘working with natural processes’, and commits to develop our natural environment to create climate adaptation solutions for resilient communities, and developing natural flood management solutions aligned to the nature recovery strategy.
• The Maritime Strategy has nature embedded throughout, committing to achieve a sustainable future that protects environmental assets,
• Our Pollinator Action Plan helps to reverse the decline in bees, butterflies and other insects by providing food and places of refuge for pollinators.
• Our Heritage at the Heart of an Evolving Cornwall: A Strategy for Cornwall’s Historic Environment (2022 - 2030) was formally adopted by Cornwall Council on the 11th of May 2022. This strategy, developed in partnership with Bord Ertach Kernow, looks at Cornwall’s landscape, buildings and environment so that we can plan effectively for the future. This is especially important when it comes to the Climate and Biodiversity Emergencies.

Planning framework:

• The Cornwall Local Plan already contains policies requiring “Net Gains” in biodiversity, the consideration of ecosystem services, and the establishment of green infrastructure within development in Policies 23 and 25.
• Cornwall Council Chief Planning Officer Note - Biodiversity Net Gain 2020 states that all major developments in Cornwall from 1st March 2020 must demonstrate a minimum 10% Biodiversity Net Gain as measured with the DEFRA Metric.
• The Planning for Biodiversity and Net Gain SPD related to that sets out the approach for achieving a gain for nature within development sites, and provides advice on how developers can encourage more biodiverse, green and blue space within development sites.
• The Climate Emergency Development Planning Document will help us to strengthen measures for nature in the planning framework with four new policies (G1-G4)

Other strategic documents:

• The Council’s County Farms Strategy notes how integrated management plans can support nature recovery; the natural regulation of environmental threats; the rebuilding of food webs; and support for natural cycles. It therefore contains, as one of its four ambitions, the aim to encourage methods of production over the next decade that enhance the estate’s natural assets and processes to catalyse and lead change across the industry.
• The local transport strategy Connecting Cornwall contains as objective 7 protecting and enhancing the environment, and Policy 16 in particular says that we will seek to incorporate enhancements into new transport schemes so that they contribute to protecting and improving habitats for a variety of wildlife.
• The Strategic Economic Plan includes a commitment to invest in natural capital and environmental growth, and the Local Industrial Strategy includes environmental growth as one of its design principles, i.e. “Reversing environmental degradation, restoring nature, and seeking to protect businesses and communities from the impact of climate change.”
• The 2019/20 Public Health Annual Report is devoted to planetary health and its importance for human health.