A Year of Collaboration and Impact

At a small gathering in Nowerwood Education Centre in Surrey, with dedicated members of the board and working groups, we celebrated and reflected on a year of progress, partnerships, and community engagement dedicated to local nature recovery and biodiversity. Updates were shared by our Chair Professor Emeritus Richard Murphy, Director Lisa Creaye-Griffin and from the chairs of our key working groups.

Thank you to all partners, volunteers, and communities who made 2025 the success it has been!

Key Highlights from 2025:

Key highlights included “Love Dogs Love Nature” research project and Surrey Hills Symposium with Surrey Hills National Landscape, attending the Surrey Development Forum Conference and Fora and most recently the Local Nature Partnership APPG event at the Houses of Parliament.

Annual Biodiversity & Planning Conference: Welcomed 108 attendees with 96% stating they would return; feedback that the event was excellent value. Networking and learning scored highly, reinforcing the importance of collaborative action.

Surrey Nature Partnership is recruiting for new board members and has received a good number of applications. Applications close December 31st 2026.

We launched a new Communications & Engagement Group to ensure consistent messaging and joint campaigns with the first workshop on communications around dogs and nature due in February 2026.

Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS):

During the Public consultation period of the Surrey LNRS, Surrey Nature Partnership ran and supported two community engagement workshops in Guildford and Lingfield and four pop-up public engagement events including RHS Wisley Gardens and Priory Park along with webinars for landowners, presentations to working groups and the public.

The public consultation attracted over 400 responses, showing strong support for nature recovery. The final draft of LNRS will be presented to the Supporting Authorities in January 2026, with sign-off scheduled for March 2026.

Surrey Biodiversity Working Group:

Published the first Surrey Old Grasslands Inventory, cataloguing ~400 species-rich sites to inform planning and biodiversity net gain.

Successful Field Day reintroduction which was well attended. Growing group size with around 70 members on distribution.

Surrey Local Sites Partnership:

Considered 10 new candidate sites, reselected 7, deselected 1 site and updated guidance for site selection to reflect best practice and legislation changes. Website information has also been updated inline with the updated guidance. Future sites will focus on sites identified in the Surrey Old Grasslands Inventory.

Surrey’s River Catchment Partnerships:

Delivered nature-based solutions; wetlands, riparian planting and sustainable drainage to boost climate resilience and biodiversity. Co-hosted with South East Rivers Trust, supported by Environment Agency and Thames Water. Adopting the recognised CaBA approach.

---

Main Photo: Thundry Meadows Photo Credit: Jon Hawkins