Local nature reserves: setting up and management
Publication Year
2026
Document Status
Current
Abstract
Provides guidance on how local nature reserves (LNRs) can be selected, declared and managed by local authorities. Covers: access to LNRs, choosing a site, how to declare a LNR, managing a LNR, byelaws, amending a LNR boundary and revoking a LNR.
Document History
Last updated: 13 October 2026 - Updated content to clarify the process for amending a local nature reserve boundary and added guidance about the process for revoking a local nature reserve. Also provided more information about controlling dogs in local nature reserves. Sourced from: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/create-and-manage-local-nature-reserves and converted to pdf. Whilst we endeavour to capture all updates it is subject to receiving alerts from the publisher and there may be formatting or punctuation changes applied to the html version that do not affect the text. Document type: guidance. First published: 2 October 2014. Published in conjunction with: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
Publisher Information
Natural England
Natural England is the government's adviser for the natural environment in England, helping to protect the country's nature and landscapes. The information contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
