It’s been a few months since the energising Big Chalk conference last September, and our partnership's momentum has continued to build. One key outcome deserves a spotlight – and we’re excited to share how it’s shaping nature recovery across southern England's chalk and limestone landscapes.
The final day of the conference included a busy morning of great workshops, run by colleagues from across the Big Chalk community of over 150 partner organisations. It was a great opportunity for face-to-face working with so many people from across the Big Chalk geography gathered in one place. The energy in the meeting rooms was electric, and that passion has translated into real action, with key projects already making strides forward over the intervening months.
One of those workshops was on Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) and explored opportunities for Big Chalk partners to influence them.
LNRSs are in the process of being put together and are an England-wide system of 48 spatial strategies designed to drive nature recovery. Each one will include a list of Priorities, the Measures needed to meet them and a map to show where the Priorities are. The Big Chalk geography spans 27 LNRSs, although some are more impacted by Big Chalk than others.
The workshop made it clear – we have a vital window to shape LNRSs before they enter their final public consultation in spring/summer 2025. This is our chance to make Big Chalk’s voice heard. Those involved came together again following the conference and decided to track the Priorities and Measures that are relevant to Big Chalk as they become available.
Together, we’ve launched a shared tracker to keep a close eye on all 27 LNRSs as they evolve – ensuring Big Chalk's nature recovery priorities are at the heart of these strategies.
Current status of the 27 LNRSs across Big Chalk.
On top of that, with help from Rivers Trust and Natural England, we have put together a ‘best practice’ Priorities and Measures list for calcareous (chalk and limestone) grasslands and chalks streams. This, along with an updated guidance note, has now gone out to all the Big Chalk LNRS Champions.
This is just the beginning. For the first time, we’re uniting as a partnership to influence a major national process that will have a real impact on nature's recovery across 20% of England. And we’re already seeing results with six out of seven LNRSs recognising Big Chalk and prioritising chalk and limestone habitats. We hope this will continue in the LNRSs to come - this is how our partnership can make a difference.
Bruce Winney, Nature Recovery Coordinator, National Landscape Association
Join our partnership
Realising our vision depends on building a broad, representative partnership – we do together what we cannot do alone.
If you would like to discuss joining the Big Chalk Partnership, please email David Hoccom.
Register your project
The Big Chalk programme is made up of a dynamic and evolving suite of partner-led projects. These may do different things, cover different areas and have different partners but they all have two things in common – they contribute towards delivering the Big Chalk vision and the Big Chalk Board has agreed they can be registered as a Big Chalk Project.
Once registered, a Big Chalk Project can use the Big Chalk brand on its materials, benefiting from an enhanced profile as well as access to networking, shared learning and best practice. Importantly, Big Chalk Projects are recognised as being part of a collective effort to secure the future of nature in southern England’s iconic chalk and limestone landscapes.
The registration process begins with submission of an online form.
Join a topic group
Knowledge transfer within the Big Chalk Partnership happens through a series of topic groups, which meet online three to four times a year. These currently cover:
- Land management for nature’s recovery
- Working with farmers and land managers
- Developing landscape-scale programmes
- Local nature recovery strategies
- Evidence, data and recording
- Natural capital
- Health, wellbeing & engagement
If you are interested in joining a Big Chalk topic group, please email Bruce Winney.
Become a funder or partner
We would love to hear from you if your organisation can help fulfil our mission and contribute to delivering our vision of nature-rich chalk and limestone landscapes that benefit all of us.
If you would like to discuss funding or partnering with Big Chalk, please email David Hoccom.