The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (c 16), also referred to as the NERC Act (2006), is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

. In a reorganisation of public bodies involved in rural policy and delivery, the measures dissolved

English Nature English Nature was the United Kingdom government agency that promoted the conservation of wildlife, geology and wild places throughout England between 1990 and 2006. It was a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Environmen ...

, the

Countryside Agency The Countryside Agency was a statutory body set up in England in 1999 with the task of improving the quality of the rural environment and the lives of those living in it. The agency was dissolved in 2006 and its functions dispersed among other bod ...

and the

Rural Development Service The Rural Development Service (RDS) was formerly part of the UK Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). It ceased to exist on 1 October 2006 following the creation of Natural England. History The RDS was crea ...

, and established

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, ...

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 (sections 1–16) deals with the establishment and role of

. English Nature and the Countryside Agency are dissolved, and most of their powers transferred to the new agency.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 (sections 17–25) establishes as a public body the

Commission for Rural Communities The Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) was established as a division of England's Countryside Agency on 1 April 2005, and became a non-departmental public body on 1 October 2006, following the enactment of the Natural Environment and Rural Co ...

, which had been created in 2005 as a division of the Countryside Agency. Subsequently, a statement in June 2010 by

Caroline Spelman Dame Caroline Alice Spelman (' Cormack; born 4 May 1958) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Meriden in the West Midlands from 1997 to 2019. From May 2010 to September 2012 she was the Se ...

led to the abolition of the commission.

Section 39 – Joint Nature Conservation Committee

Section 39 and Schedule 4 reconstitute the

Joint Nature Conservation Committee The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) is the public body that advises the UK Government and devolved administrations on UK-wide and international nature conservation. Originally established under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, J ...

Sections 40 to 42 – Duty to conserve biodiversity

Section 40 of the NERC Act places a duty to conserve

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity'') ...

on public authorities in England. It requires

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

and government departments to have regard to the purposes of conserving biodiversity in a manner that is consistent with the exercise of their normal functions such as policy and decision-making. 'Conserving biodiversity' may include enhancing, restoring or protecting a population or a habitat. Section 41 requires the Secretary of State to publish and maintain lists of species and types of habitats which are regarded by

to be of " principal importance" for the purposes of conserving biodiversity in England. These 56 priority habitats and 943 species are drawn from earlier lists of United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species and Habitats. The Section 41 lists are needed by decision-makers in local and regional authorities when carrying out their duties under Section 40 of the Act. Section 42 similarly required the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Go ...

to publish equivalent lists of priority species and habitats for that country. However, this requirement (and one specified in Section 40 for Wales) has been superseded by virtue of similar requirements being enshrined in the

Environment (Wales) Act 2016 The Environment (Wales) Act 2016 (anaw 3) ( cy, Deddf yr Amgylchedd (Cymru) 2016) is an Act of the National Assembly for Wales that was given royal assent on 21 March 2016. It put into place the necessary legislation to enable the planning and ma ...

Sections 87 to 97 – reform of various agricultural bodies

The act laid the ground for rationalisation of levy-funded boards in agriculture and related industries, leading to the establishment in 2008 of the

Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) is a levy board funded by farmers and growers and some other parts of the supply chain. It aims to enhance farm business efficiency and competitiveness in the areas of: pig, beef and lam ...

Section 107 – Commencement

The following orders have been made under this section:
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (Commencement No. 1) Order 2006
(S.I. 2006/1176 (C.40))
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (Commencement No. 2) Order 2006
(S.I. 2006/1382 (C.47))
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2006
(S.I. 2006/2541 (C.86))
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (Commencement No. 4) Order 2007
(S.I. 2007/816 (C.32))
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (Commencement No. 1) (England) Order 2007
(S.I. 2007/2540 (C.97))
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (Commencement) (Wales) Order 2006
(S.I. 2006/2992 (W.279) (C.106)

References

Halsbury's Statutes ''Halsbury's Statutes of England and Wales'' (commonly referred to as ''Halsbury's Statutes'') provides updated texts of every Public General Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Measure of the Welsh Assembly, or Church of England Mea ...

External links

Biodiversity duty: public authority duty to have regard to conserving biodiversity
Natural England and DEFRA, first published October 2014
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006
as amended from the National Archives
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006
as originally enacted from the National Archives
Explanatory notes
to the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 {{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2006 Environmental law in the United Kingdom Rural society in the United Kingdom Conservation in the United Kingdom Conservation in England