The new Nature Restoration Levy Regulations and 'appropriate prioritisation' for nature
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What this means for development, viability, planning and nature recovery
The new Nature Restoration Levy Regulations have now been laid before Parliament and could transform how habitats, species and ecosystems are protected within the planning system.
In this webinar, Alexa Culver and Lois Lane will outline the key provisions of the new Nature Restoration Levy Regulations introduced under the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 and will explore the new concept of ‘appropriate prioritisation’, introduced to replace the ‘mitigation hierarchy’ under new Environmental Delivery Plans.
This webinar will be valuable for any businesses and professionals who interact with the planning system and those interested in the protection and enhancement of natural infrastructure in England.
Alexa and Lois will be answering these questions:
- Who do the Levy Regulations apply to? How much are they going to be?
- Will they improve or worsen the development viability crisis?
- Who will pay what, and when?
- What does this mean for existing legal protections for nature? Do they still apply?
- Transitional arrangement: what about current live projects?
- What is ‘appropriate prioritisation’ for nature? Does it replace the ‘mitigation hierarchy’?
- Who needs to ‘appropriately prioritise’ what? When do they need to do it? How do they prove they have done it?
- Questions from the audience – free for all
Webinar speakers
Alexa Culver
General Counsel, RSK Wilding
Alexa Culver joined RSK Wilding in January 2025, having previously been general counsel at natural capital specialists Environment Bank. She is a member of the College of Experts at the Office for Environmental Protection and was recognised in the ENDS Report Power List as one of the most impactful environmental lawyers of 2023.
As a lawyer with over 16 years’ experience working on land, planning, environmental and green finance projects, Alexa helps to inform policy developments in natural capital regulation and designs legal contracts, leases and conservation covenants that maximise natural capital value through novel and enduring financial, legal and governance mechanisms.
Dr Lois Lane
Barrister, Cornerstone Barristers
Dr Lois Lane is a barrister at Cornerstone Barristers, specialising in environmental, planning and public law, with a focus on strategic environmental litigation and major infrastructure development. She has appeared in cases involving airport expansions, oil extraction schemes and nuclear power stations and advises clients across a wide range of environmental and planning law issues. Lois is ranked as a Rising Star in planning in the Legal 500 directory and one of the top-rated planning juniors under 35 in the 2026 Planning Law Survey and is shortlisted for Planning and Land Use Junior of the Year at the Legal 500 Bar Awards 2026.
Featured business
RSK Wilding
RSK Wilding is an exciting new venture on a mission to use rewilding as a means of offsetting our clients’ carbon and biodiversity impacts whilst also having other environmental and social benefits. RSK Wilding is a multidisciplinary team bringing together an unrivalled breadth of expertise in biodiversity, land management and climate science from across the RSK group of businesses to help leave a lasting legacy for UK biodiversity, the environment and the climate.
Webinar series: First Thursday Club
The First Thursday Club webinar series is a monthly scientific, specialist-led webinar that focuses on best practices relating to the natural environment and how these could affect RSK and external businesses. Created by RSK Biocensus, RSK’s ecological business, the lunchtime webinar series has proved enormously popular and successful since its inception in August 2020.
View more webinars from this series