The Nature Restoration Levy Regulations 2026 turn Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 into an operating system. In practical terms, the instrument sets out how the levy is charged, who becomes legally responsible for paying it, how money is collected and where it can be spent. The Explanatory Memorandum says the levy sits within the Nature Restoration Fund, with Natural England acting as administrator, and the instrument applies in practice in England even though its legal extent is England and Wales. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk) The policy shift is significant for planning law. Under the 2025 Act, an Environmental Delivery Plan, or EDP, gives developers an alternative route for dealing with specified environmental effects on protected sites and species. Instead of carrying out every mitigation step on a site-by-site basis for matters covered by the EDP, a developer can use the levy route and fund strategic conservation measures through Natural England. Parliament’s Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee described the Regulations as the statutory framework for that new levy system. (publications.parliament.uk)
The first operational decision for any developer is whether an EDP is available and whether there is capacity within it. GOV.UK guidance published on 1 September 2026 says developers will be able to obtain a quote from Natural England once an EDP is in place, based on matters such as location, unit numbers and the relevant charging schedule. A quote does not itself commit the developer, but Natural England will not issue one if the proposal exceeds the remaining capacity of the EDP. (gov.uk) If Natural England accepts a request to use the levy, it issues a commitment certificate. That certificate is then expected to accompany the planning application and shows the local planning authority that the environmental effect covered by the relevant EDP can be disregarded for the purposes of the specified obligations. The guidance also states that the commitment expires after six months if it is not submitted as part of a planning application, with the reserved EDP capacity then released. (gov.uk)
The Regulations then make payment timing part of the planning control system rather than a separate financial afterthought. Regulation 5 requires a statutory pre-commencement condition on planning permission for relevant development, and the same restriction is deemed to apply to relevant development proceeding under a general consent where work had not already begun. Development must not start until the levy has been paid in full or, where instalments have been agreed, until the first instalment has been paid. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk) That matters for local authorities as well as developers. Once the applicable payment trigger has been met, Natural England must notify the relevant authority. GOV.UK guidance describes this as the point at which Natural England confirms that the planning condition has been satisfied. The result is a three-cornered system in which Natural England controls the payment side, the decision-maker attaches the condition, and commencement is blocked unless both align. (gov.uk)
Liability is also tighter than many developers may first assume. In most cases, somebody must assume liability after planning permission is granted and before development begins. More than one person can do so, and where that happens the liability is joint and several. Liability can later be transferred to another person with that person’s consent, but a transfer does not wipe out responsibility for sums that were already due when Natural England received the transfer notice. (gov.uk) If nobody assumes liability in time, the exposure can move from the promoter to the land. GOV.UK guidance states that Natural England must then impose liability on owners of material interests, and the draft Regulations show that material interests mean freeholds and leaseholds with more than seven years left when the request was accepted. Where Natural England can value those interests, liability is apportioned by reference to their open market value on the assumption that the development has been completed; where it cannot do so after reasonable efforts, owners can instead be jointly and severally liable. General consents, including permitted development routes, are not carved out: liability can arise on acceptance of the request or on prior approval, depending on the case. (gov.uk)
The charging rules give Natural England wide but defined room to structure costs. Regulation 23 says charging schedules must have regard to the actual and expected costs of delivering, managing, maintaining and monitoring conservation measures, as well as administrative costs connected with the EDP itself, levy collection, appeals, enforcement and shared systems used across more than one EDP. The same regulation allows differential rates by size, zone, use and environmental effect, and it also allows supplementary charges where instalments create additional administrative work. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk) The amount payable is not simply the headline figure in the charging schedule. The levy is calculated by reference to the schedule in force when Natural England accepted the request, then adjusted for inflation. The Regulations use the RICS CIL Index, with an ONS CPIH fallback if that index is unavailable, and they set the levy at nil where the provisional amount is below £50. GOV.UK guidance adds that inflation is applied both when liability arises and again when later payments are made, which means delayed build-out can increase the cash payment required. The Regulations also allow payments from a stopped or redesigned scheme to be transferred to an overlapping replacement scheme after recalculation and deduction of Natural England’s reasonable administrative costs. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk)
The spending rules are narrower than a general pot for nature projects. Regulation 33 requires Natural England to spend levy funds on conservation measures listed in the EDP that applies to the development and linked to the identified environmental feature for which the levy was charged. The Regulations expressly allow spending on delivery, management, maintenance, monitoring and certain administrative costs, and they allow funds to be reserved for future expenditure or passed to another public authority for the same permitted purposes. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk) There are also accountability provisions that planning authorities, land promoters and environmental groups are likely to watch closely. Natural England must account separately for levy funds under each EDP and report outstanding levy amounts and spending in midpoint and final EDP reports, as well as in its annual reporting under the 2025 Act. If the original measures no longer require funding, the money must still be spent on additional conservation measures related to the same environmental feature. If an EDP ends or is revoked and section 70 of the Act is engaged, the Secretary of State must use the funds for remedial action. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk)
Enforcement is where the instrument moves well beyond a routine planning charge. Natural England can impose a surcharge for failure to assume liability, with regulation 35 setting that at the greater of 2% of the levy amount or £300, unless the levy is under £1,000. For late payment, regulation 36 permits separate surcharges after 30 days, six months and 12 months, each at the greater of 5% of the outstanding amount or £300, again subject to the £1,000 floor. Interest accrues from the day after the due date at 2.5 percentage points above the Bank of England base rate, and liability is not treated as discharged until the principal, surcharge and interest have all been paid. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk) Natural England can also intervene directly in the development process. The Regulations allow warning notices and then stop notices where a relevant amount remains overdue, with notices served on liable persons, owners, occupiers and others materially affected. Stop notices must also be displayed on the land, entered on the local planning register of stop notices and can be backed by an injunction if breached. Separately, the levy becomes a local land charge, unpaid sums are recoverable as a debt, and Natural England can apply to the county court to enforce the charge where the outstanding levy amount is at least £2,000. The Regulations give it mortgagee-style enforcement powers if the court consents. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk)
The instrument does, however, contain routes back through review, appeal and cancellation. A liable person can ask Natural England to review the levy amount, and an owner can ask it to review an apportionment decision. Those requests normally have to be made within 28 days. While a review or a subsequent appeal is outstanding, no relevant amount is payable and the amount cannot become overdue. Appeals then lie to the Secretary of State on levy amount, apportionment, surcharges, interest and warning or stop notices, with the Regulations also allowing extensions where there are good reasons. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk) Cancellation rules are likely to be especially important in stalled or redesigned schemes. GOV.UK guidance says a commitment can be cancelled where, for example, no planning application is made within six months, planning permission or another required consent is refused and not successfully challenged, the only planning permission is revoked or quashed, the permission lapses, or the developer no longer intends to proceed under that EDP route. Cancellation ends the commitment and releases capacity back into the EDP, but it does not automatically wipe out amounts that were already due. (gov.uk)
For planning professionals, the wider message is straightforward. The Nature Restoration Levy is not just a funding device for habitat measures; it is a parallel compliance route with its own commencement controls, land liability rules, debt mechanisms and appeal structure. That changes the due diligence expected from developers, funders and landowners at the front end of a scheme, particularly where a site is being promoted through options, phased delivery or a permitted development route. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk) The parliamentary record shows why this will stay under close scrutiny. The draft Regulations were laid on 18 June 2026 under the affirmative procedure, and the Lords scrutiny committee highlighted them as politically and legally important while noting concerns raised about the lack of practical guidance at that stage. Ministers told peers that the first EDPs were expected later in 2026 and that initial learning would come from nutrient pollution plans. Since then, the Government, Natural England and MHCLG have published user guidance dated 1 September 2026. For local planning authorities, Natural England and the development sector, the operational phase has now begun. (statutoryinstruments.parliament.uk)