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Defining Geographical Boundaries: The History of England’s National Character Areas
- Hannah Williams
- 18 hours ago
- 6 min read
A Map Made for Nature
When Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) became mandatory in England, it quickly became apparent that its rules and regulations would rely heavily on a set of geographical boundaries known as National Character Areas (NCAs). Although BNG can feel like a big shift in the planning world, it builds on ideas first explored in the early 1990s, when conservationists began looking beyond individual sites and considering nature at a broader, landscape scale.
To understand why NCAs are now an integral part of the BNG framework, it's helpful to trace the origins and evolution of this landscape-based approach. Before exploring the pivotal mapping decisions that shaped current national conservation tools, it's important to see how over 30 years of mapping England's natural geography, rather than administrative borders, enabled these concepts to take root and now influence Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS).
Natural England’s Environmental Predecessor
Prior to the foundation of Natural England, the organisation responsible for advising the government on the conservation of wildlife, geology and natural landscapes was English Nature. Established in the early 1990s, the organisation fulfilled this role for nearly fifteen years until it merged with the Countryside Agency and the Rural Development Service in 2006 to form what we now know as Natural England.
During its time in operation, English Nature increasingly recognised that biodiversity loss wasn’t confined to designated sites; rather, it was a nationwide epidemic. In their 1997 publication, Agriculture and Natural Areas: A Discussion Paper, English Nature highlighted a key flaw in traditional conservation practices: land repair and management efforts centred solely on agricultural sites, national reserves, and protected areas, leaving much of England’s wider landscape vulnerable to ecological decline.
This historic, environmental managerialist approach guided many of England’s biodiversity policies in the 1990s. It relied heavily on paying farmers to offset damage to their land and addressed issues on a site-by-site basis, leaving large areas of countryside with minimal attention. To tackle the growing biodiversity crisis, English Nature proposed a new approach: mapping England into zones defined by natural processes rather than administrative boundaries; marking a transition away from the long-held belief that isolated interventions could protect nature.
By mapping England into natural zones, English Nature laid the groundwork for a countrywide conservation framework capable of addressing biodiversity decline across entire landscapes: Natural Areas.
The Evolution of England’s Landscape Mapping
Although Agriculture and Natural Areas: A Discussion Paper wasn’t released until 1997, it explains that English Nature had been developing the concept of Natural Areas since 1993. Their description of these zones closely mirrors the modern understanding of NCAs:
‘Natural Areas are biogeographical zones which reflect the geological foundation, the natural systems and processes and the wildlife in different parts of England, and provide a framework for setting objectives for nature conservation.’
Natural Areas were guided by objectives that closely resemble current conservation priorities. They sought to conserve and, where possible, expand high-quality semi-natural habitats; strengthen and restore secondary habitat types; encourage farming practices that better support wildlife across the wider countryside; and create targeted programmes for rare or threatened species.
In 1994, the first major Natural Areas map was released, categorising England’s landscape into 92 distinct biogeographical segments:
This early map mirrors the structure of modern NCAs, although landscape divisions have been refined over the decades. By 1996, the number had already risen to 120 Natural Areas:
Natural Areas served as England’s first biodiversity-led geographical mapping, with boundaries deliberately designed to support the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, published in 1994. This plan set national targets for species and habitat enhancement to be delivered through the Natural Areas approach, marking one of the first nationwide efforts to create a spatial framework for restoring nature nationwide.
‘In summary, Natural Areas provide a means to achieve prioritisation, localism and holism.’
From Natural Areas to NCAs: The Inception of Natural England
Alongside the launch of the Natural Areas map in 1994, the Countryside Commission was carrying out a pilot study known as the ‘New Map of England,’ which developed a new, large-scale method for assessing landscape character. This work identified what were then called regional landscape types and regional character areas. With both projects progressing in parallel, a 1994 government organisational review encouraged English Nature and the Countryside Commission to collaborate, resulting in a single, unified national map to support both landscape and nature conservation.
This collaboration produced The Character of England Map, which unified Natural Areas and Countryside Character Areas into 159 Joint Character Areas—the basis for today’s National Character Areas. Each area reflected key landscape, physical, cultural, and settlement influences.
In the years following the development of the Character of England Map, English Nature and the Countryside Commission continued to work closely together until the government enacted the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act in 2006. This legislation brought the two organisations together, merging them into what we now know as Natural England.
In its early development, Natural England undertook a major effort to validate and modernise the landscape mapping systems inherited from its predecessor bodies, into what we now recognise as National Character Areas. The 2011 Natural Environment White Paper reinforced this direction by committing the government to improving the way England manages its landscapes. As part of this commitment, Natural England was tasked with updating and digitising the profiles for all 159 National Character Areas, completing the work in 2014.
By ensuring NCA profiles followed natural rather than administrative boundaries, the White Paper aimed to create a reliable framework for environmental planning, project design, and decision-making across England. This framework continues to shape policy today, particularly following the Environment Act 2021 and its introduction of Biodiversity Net Gain.
History in Practice: How NCAs Shape Biodiversity Net Gain
As Biodiversity Net Gain became mandatory in 2024, the integration of National Character Areas into the regulatory framework became central to how the Statutory Biodiversity Metric measures, values, and delivers biodiversity gains. This means that the process for achieving and verifying BNG outcomes now depends on how projects align with these landscape divisions, ensuring that biodiversity improvements are targeted to appropriate natural zones. The practice, first conceived in the 1990s, is now formalised in BNG delivery.
The biodiversity metric encourages the creation of off-site habitat as close as possible to the development site, so local communities benefit from nearby nature recovery. To achieve this, the Spatial Risk Multiplier reduces the value of biodiversity units the further they are from the impact site. Off-site gains within the same Local Planning Authority (LPA) or NCA receive full credit, gains in a neighbouring LPA or NCA receive reduced credit, and gains delivered beyond neighbouring areas are discounted further.
As there are far fewer NCAs than LPAs (159 vs. 337), NCAs generally cover larger areas. This often gives developers greater flexibility, as compensation within the same NCA is still treated as “local” for the biodiversity metric. The overall effect is that projects are rewarded for delivering off-site gains within the same landscape context and penalised when compensation is placed too far from where biodiversity was lost- a concept that echoes English Nature’s original reasoning in the 1990s, when Natural Areas were first mapped to ensure conservation happened within the landscapes where ecological processes naturally operate.
‘Such localism means in turn that it is possible to define objectives/prescriptions for nature conservation at the landscape scale which reflect the specific character of an area.’
Local Nature Recovery Strategies: The Next Step in BNG
While NCAs provide the broad ecological context, Local Nature Recovery Strategies are beginning to add a more detailed layer of spatial guidance. Established through The Environment Act 2021, LNRSs are legally required plans assigned to 48 responsible authorities:
Their purpose is straightforward: to show where nature is strongest, where it is struggling, and where new habitats should be created or restored. Each LNRS must map important existing habitats, identify priorities, such as woodland creation or wetland restoration, and pinpoint locations where nature recovery would have the greatest impact.
Importantly, BNG links directly to these strategies: development projects that deliver habitat creation within LNRS-identified areas can generate 1.15 times more biodiversity units, reflecting their alignment with strategic, government-backed environmental priorities. This represents England’s first nationwide incentive to focus nature recovery on places where it will be most beneficial, rather than supporting opportunistic habitat creation.
Together, NCAs and LNRSs now form a two-tier spatial system: NCAs outline the broad ecological landscape, while LNRSs identify the local priorities within it. BNG sits neatly between the two, operating within a framework rooted in conservation principles first articulated in the 1990s; ideas that continue to guide how England approaches nature recovery today.
The History of National Character Areas: Is England’s Landscape Map Complete?
The history of England’s National Character Area framework predates BNG by decades, rooted in a vision first shaped in the 1990s. What began as an ecological mapping experiment by English Nature now guides where biodiversity units are delivered and how value is assigned. With 48 Local Nature Recovery Strategies soon defining county-level priorities, the spatial system behind BNG is becoming more coordinated and strategic.
Looking ahead, this suggests that landscape mapping in England is not complete, but rather continuing to evolve. It is moving toward increasingly detailed, data-led frameworks that exhibit how nature functions and how recovery can be most effectively delivered. This evolution is reflected in Biodiversity Net Gain legislation, which represents the latest chapter in a 30-year effort to restore nature at an ecological scale.
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