Dr Jack Reed, University of Exeter, J.Reed2@exeter.ac.uk
Britain’s Leading Edge is supporting a three-year research project hosted at the University of Exeter seeking to assess the relationships between nature recovery and regional development (NaRReD) in England’s rural periphery. This research comes at an important time for rural policy makers and communities given increasing emphasis on investment in nature recovery with implications for rural economies. Dr Jack Reed was recently invited to discuss the research, the wider context, and the role of Britain’s Leading Edge at the Community Land Trust Network conference at Dean’s Yard in Westminster.
Jack spoke as part of a panel discussion on land reform, connecting ongoing debates around land use and ownership with developments in nature recovery. The role of nature recovery is emerging as a pivotal factor in these discussions, especially given that all 48 upper-tier local authorities across England are currently developing their local nature recovery strategies. These strategies are a new statutory duty for local authorities that must now construct a map of local priority areas for nature recovery.
Alongside Jack, there were two other panellists on the panel. They were Janet Cobb, board member at the Middle Marches Community Land Trust in Shropshire, and John Watt OBE, board member at Community Land Scotland. The session was chaired by the CEO of the Community Land Trust Network, Tom Chance. The three panel members were each given 5 minutes to introduce their topic, and Jack outlined current statutory guidance in relation to nature recovery, the importance of Britain’s Leading Edge, and posed a series of key questions for delegates to consider. These were:
· What roles might rural communities and stakeholders have in the long-term success of nature recovery?
· How effective might decentralised governance structures be in generating spaces for nature that are bigger, better, and more joined up in England?
· To what extent might rural investment in nature recovery stay “local”?
The initial presentations sparked lively discussion amongst the panel and the delegates, with 40 minutes given to an open discussion between the audience and the panel. The dominant themes emerging from this centred on the cultural resonance of land reform for rural areas, social and environmental justice, possible resistance to nature recovery, and, as asked by writer and presenter Charlie Luxton, “what does good look like in relation to nature recovery and biodiversity net gain”?
These questions are significant for Britain’s Leading Edge regions, especially given recent data from the Office for National Statistics demonstrates that Britain’s Leading Edge’s 12 local authorities are home to 27.6% of England’s businesses in agriculture, forestry, and fishing. The ways in which local nature recovery strategies and emerging green finance markets link to these industries will be important for the success of rural regions. Realising positive synergies depends on a broad-church of organisations engaging in the process and support from the Community Land Trust Network will be important as this agenda develops.
The NaRReD project is currently engaging with all 12 members of Britain’s Leading Edge on these topics and, if you haven’t heard from the team already, but would like to be part of this conversation, please get in touch!
Photo credit: Dr Jack Reed
About the author
Dr Jack Reed is a Postdoctoral Researcher on the ESRC-funded Nature Recovery and Regional Development (NaRReD) project at the University of Exeter. He has a PhD from the University of Edinburgh (awarded in 2023). At Exeter, he is affiliated with the Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) in Cornwall, and the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy (LEEP) Institute in Devon. Jack’s academic outputs have been cited in over 26 countries and his research interests include nature recovery, regional development, and environmental sociology. In particular, he is interested in how societal connections to nature may influence the development of regional and national nature recovery policies and practices.
You can find more information about the NaRReD project here:
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