Content

Salford City Council - Record of
Decision
 
I, Councillor Mike McCusker, Lead Member for Planning,
Transport and Sustainable Development, in exercise of the powers
contained within the Council Constitution, do hereby approve:
 
THAT I am
content for the Local Nature Recovery Strategy to be published and
authorise the Executive Director of Place to confirm the same in
writing to the GMCA and the Mayor as the responsible body for the
GM Local Nature Recovery Strategy.
 
The
Reasons are:
In response to the Biodiversity
Emergency and in line with the council’s statutory duties
under the Environment Act.
 
Options considered and rejected were:
The city council could object
to the Local Nature Recovery Strategy and press for an amended
strategy. However, officers from the city council have worked
closely with Greater Manchester Combined Authority and partners in
the drafting of the strategy. Within the context of the guidance
set for these strategies, it is believed that the Local Nature
Recovery Strategy presents a good representation of the priorities
for nature recovery in Salford.
 
Assessment of Risk:
Low. The Local Nature Recovery
Strategy does not form part of the development plan, though it is a
document which the city council will need to have regard to in
carrying out its various functions.
 
The
source of funding is:
N/A
 
Legal
Advice obtained:
Provided by Justin Hobson,
Principal Lawyer – Shared Legal Service – 2 June
2025
Salford City Council (the
Council) (as a supporting authority) has collaborated with the
Mayor/GMCA ( the responsible authority), along with the other
supporting authorities on the production of the Local Nature
Recovery Strategy (LNRS)
 
In this final stage of the
process, the Mayor/GMCA has provided the Council, as one of the
supporting authorities, with the final version of the LNRS (as
required by Regulation 13 of the Environment (Local Nature Recovery
Strategies) (Procedure) Regulations 2023). 
 
The Council is now asked to
confirm that it is content for the Final LNRS to be
published. 
If the Council is content for
the local nature recovery strategy to be published, it can confirm
this in writing to the Mayor/GMCA (Regulation 18(3)).
 
Should the Council not give any
indication to the Mayor/GMCA within a period of 28 days, beginning
with the date on which it was provided with a copy of the Final
LNRS under Regulation 13, the Council is essentially deemed to have
consented to the LNRS’s publication.
 
If the Council considers that
either:  i)
part of a final LNRS cannot be justified based on the results of
the consultation undertaken by the responsible authority under
Regulation 12; or II) the final LNRS is materially deficient, it
may, before the expiry of 28 days from the date on which it
received the copy of the final local nature recovery strategy, give
a publication advisory notice to the Mayor/GMCA.  The effect of the notice is to prevent the
responsible authority from publishing the LNRS until the issues
raised in the notice are resolved.
 
However, if having sought to
resolve matters, the Council still did not agree to the publication
of the LNRS, the responsible authority may write to the Secretary
of State requesting permission to publish the final LNRS, upon
which and subject to further consultation with the other supporting
authorities, either permit the publication of the final LNRS; or
permit publication subject to such conditions as the Secretary of
State considers appropriate (Regulation 16).
 
Financial Advice obtained:
Provided by Martin Anglesey,
Accountant martin.anglesey@salford.gov.uk
Date: 29 May 2025
It is anticipated that
submitting approval for the Greater Manchester Local Nature
Recovery Strategy to be published will not incur direct financial
implications to Salford City Council.
In terms of longer term nature
recovery funding across GMCA as a whole, this is more far reaching.
A combination of agricultural environment scheme / grant funding
and accessing private finance will be necessary. Business models
shall be developed to facilitate other sources of funding -
initiatives such as Biodiversity Net Gain. Furthermore, continued
development and implementation of local policies that incentivise
funding into the natural environment to be maintained.
Project Innovate is not
applicable due to the unique nature of the Strategy.
 
Procurement Advice obtained:
N/A
 
HR
Advice obtained:
N/A
 
Climate Change Advice obtained:
Habitats and species are at
risk from changes in the climate and it is important that our
natural areas are well managed in order to be resilient to future
changes. Natural areas can play an important role in helping the
city to be more resilient to climate change by providing flood
storage and reducing surface water run-off from extreme rainfall
events. Green spaces also provide a cooling effect to counter the
impact of extreme heat.
 
The
following documents have been used to assist the decision
process:
Nature for All: A Local Nature
Recovery Strategy for Greater Manchester
 
Contact
Officer:    Fiona Fryer                      
fiona.fryer@salford.gov.uk
                             
James Shuttleworth
         
james.shuttleworth@salford.gov.uk
 
This decision is not subject to
consideration by another Lead Member.
 
The appropriate scrutiny panel to
call-in the decision is the Growth and Prosperity Scrutiny
Panel. 
 

Signed: Councillor Mike McCusker                  
Dated: 9th July 2025
Lead
Member for Planning, Transport & Sustainable
Development
 

 
This decision was published on 10th July 2025.
 
This decision will come into force at
4.00 p.m. on 17th July 2025, unless it is called-in in accordance with the
decision-making process rules.