Wilder Horsham District Nature Recovery Network

Wilder Horsham District is an innovative five-year partnership between Sussex Wildlife Trust and Horsham District Council, working to deliver a Nature Recovery Network for Horsham District.

Working closely with local communities and landowners, we aim to reverse the decline in species and habitats and enrich the natural environment for all residents and visitors. This project represents an exciting working partnership between Sussex Wildlife Trust and Horsham District Council, and will help to protect and enhance wildlife at a district level. This will also contribute to the wider vision for a ‘Wilder Future’, the Wildlife Trusts’ national campaign for a UK-wide Nature Recovery Network.

The objectives of this project are to:

• Help wildlife thrive across the Horsham District
• Create networks of land that are protected and enhanced for wildlife, to allow habitats to expand and for species populations to increase, which will ensure that they are resilient to change
• Increase awareness of actions that communities can take to improve their local natural environment and the benefits that wildlife provides 
• Maximise the opportunities that protecting and enhancing wildlife brings for climate change mitigation and adaptation

The network compliments the ambitions of the Knepp Estate for an extensive corridor running through the district.  It has been in production alongside a highly controversial Local Plan consultation process which has presented numerous challenges and a great deal of local and national media coverage, of which the Nature Recovery Network is a central issue.

Sussex Wildlife Trust is also working as part of the Local Nature Partnership to develop Nature Recovery Network mapping for the whole of Sussex, learning from work in Horsham and elsewhere.  These are being prepared with future Local Nature Recovery Strategies in mind and are also linking to the broader regional Nature Recovery Network.