Lousy Bush Local Nature Reserve Designation

• Lousy Bush Now Officially Declared a Local Nature Reserve

• How the LNR Declaration Came About

• What does the LNR Declaration mean for us?

• LNR Declaration Email and Documents

• How to Declare a Local Nature Reserve

The Parish Walking and Wildlife Group (PWWG) Committee is pleased to announce that Lousy Bush has now been formally declared a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) by Wrestlingworth and Cockayne Hatley Parish Council, with registration confirmed by Natural England in October 2025.

This follows an administrative delay in the earlier application process. This article explains the background and what the new designation means for our community.

In 2021, PWWG committee members and Wrestlingworth and Cockayne Hatley Parish Council (WCHPC) worked with Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) to gain approval for Lousy Bush to be declared a Local Nature Reserve. At the time, LNR status was publicly announced in good faith by our Parish Council on Facebook (see: PWWG Group Facebook announcement).

However, in May 2025, while researching an article about the reserve, I checked Natural England’s LNR register for Bedfordshire and could not find an entry for Lousy Bush.

👉 View LNR Registrations for Bedfordshire

After investigating what had happened and discussing it with councillors and others involved at the time, we discovered that, during a 2021 meeting with CBC, the power to make the formal declaration to Natural England had been delegated to our Parish Council as the landowner. Unfortunately, this was not clearly communicated at the time - compounded by meetings being held online during the Covid pandemic. As a result, the formal declaration was never submitted to Natural England.

To put this right, the PWWG Committee discussed the matter with the Parish Council, and it was agreed that we would proceed to complete the formal declaration on their behalf. The necessary documents were submitted, and on 7 October 2025 we received confirmation from Natural England that Lousy Bush LNR had been added to the official register. So all is now made good!

👉 View the official record on Natural England’s Designated Sites Register

Natural England has advised that their open-data map layers may take some time to update, but we’ll monitor these updates to ensure our reserve is correctly shown.

👉 See: Local Nature Reserves – Natural England Open Data

A Local Nature Reserve (LNR) designation with Natural England gives formal recognition to a site’s local importance for wildlife, geology, education, and recreation. It’s declared by a local authority under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, with Natural England’s agreement.

For a small nature reserve, this designation means:

• The site is protected and managed for nature conservation and public enjoyment.

• The local authority takes responsibility for its care and management, often in partnership with community groups or charities - the Parish Walking and Wildlife Group (PWWG) in this case.

• It gains recognition and support from Natural England, potentially helping with funding, guidance, and planning protection.

In essence, LNR status secures the site’s long-term role as a locally significant place for both nature and people.

The declaration also makes the site a material consideration in planning, meaning nearby developments must avoid harming its ecological value or public use. It strengthens local ecological protection by requiring mitigation or refusal of proposals that could damage the reserve, its wildlife and habitats.

We are including the Lousy Bush Local Nature reserve declaration documents here for anyone who would like to inspect them. The documents were provided with this declaration email:

The following attached documents were provided with the declaration email to Natural England.:

Digital mapping shapefiles accompanying the declaration were kindly created for us by Jackie Ullyett Data Manager at Bedfordshire and Luton Biodiversity Recording and Monitoring Centre (BRMC) / The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire & Northamptonshire.

The Local Nature Reserve Letter of Support for Lousy Bush from Natural England confirming the LNR consultation took placer was received retrospectively on 26th November 2025:

If you’ve found this article and want to declare a Local Nature Reserve in your area, this is a short summary of what needs to be done. To declare a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) in England, a local authority must:

1. Control the land – through ownership, lease, or formal agreement.

2. Consult Natural England – to confirm the site’s suitability.

3. Prepare key documents – a site map, management plan, and draft declaration.

4. Formally declare the site – by a council resolution under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 (Section 21).

5. Notify the public – publish a notice in a local newspaper and make the declaration and map available for inspection.

6. Submit the final declaration to Natural England for registration.

Once declared, the site gains legal recognition and protection as a locally important area for nature and public enjoyment.

Full details of the process are available on the UK Government website:

👉 Local nature reserves: setting up and management (GOV.UK)

In our case, ownership of the land was already established with WCHPC, and the Council had agreed to the LNR designation. As it was unclear whether Natural England had been consulted in 2021, we began at Step 3 (“Prepare key documents”) to compile the required materials. Public announcements had already taken place in 2021, so we explained this in our submission to Natural England’s consultation email address. After submission, confirmation of registration followed approximately one month later.