Our Project

OxCam LNCP

Overview

The Arc already contributes over 2 million jobs and 110 billion of annual GVA whilst providing a place to live for over 3.7 million residents. However with the right support and investment between now and 2050 “The Arc” offers a significant opportunity for the government and partners to work together to support the harmonious delivery of improved connectivity, productivity and place-making, whilst ensuring pioneering environmental standards and enhancements are delivered and the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan is put into action.
The LNCP project is the first project delivering under the Arc Environment pillar. It is a Defra Group-led project (cross-Defra, Natural England, Forestry Commission and Environment Agency), with a team hosted by the Environment Agency. It was conceived to develop a local natural capital plan (LNCP) for the OxCam Arc in order to support the delivery of environmental protection and enhancement as part of the planned growth and investment within the Arc. Within the 25 Year Environment Plan, the government committed to LNCPs, with the aim of embedding natural capital thinking into growth plans. However there was no detailed framework for what these should encompass, aside from setting out that they should be locally owned and co-designed strategic place-based plans that provide a mechanism to prioritise environmental improvements, ensure effective coordination of planning & delivery and stimulate investment.
A secondary aim of the OxCam LNCP project is to provide a scalable and replicable framework for local natural capital plans elsewhere.
Follow our journey so far by clicking on the images below – from defining our approach to developing a local natural capital plan through to reviewing the products that form part of the evidence base.
Working in partnership with stakeholders across the Arc and national government, we have agreed a detailed scope for the project, reviewed natural capital approaches, collated evidence on natural capital assets and opportunities across the Arc and developed a natural capital account.
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“The creation of a LNCP for the arc is an essential first step to ensure we have an evidence base and tools to baseline and monitor environmental change within the Arc.  This framework for natural capital planning, underpinned by collaboration, is essential to help de-risk growth and deliver the ambitious vision for the Arc – as well as providing a replicable approach for place based initiatives elsewhere in the country”
OxCam meadow of flowers.

Defining our approach

Building our evidence base

Delivering and Embedding

Map

Resources