Launch of the Explore Framework: bringing nature, sustainability, health & wellbeing into local planning

Published on 10 March 2026

Natural England’s Explore Framework is a practical toolkit for joined-up local government planning. RENEW’s community action team worked to help shape the tool to promote desirable outcomes – including biodiversity renewal – in strategic placemaking.

RENEW Researchers in Theme 2 (Community Action) have worked closely with Natural England, partners and a small group of local authorities to maximise and pilot the Explore Framework, which launches today (March 10^th) at a webinar hosted by ADEPT.

Video Explainer devised by Local Partnerships

Explore was originally called the Health, Nature, Wellbeing and Sustainability (HWNS) tool. Development began in 2022 as part of RENEW. The framework was tested and refined with several pilot local authorities, ensuring that it met their needs.

The RENEW team provided quality assurance of data dashboards and evaluation of pilot workshops with various stakeholders. They also helped to develop training for users of the tool. At the start of 2026, they helped train facilitators who are in place to support users assess plausible future scenarios, designing and testing potential interventions and plans.

Explore strengthens cross-sector collaboration, offering a platform to shape local strategies that support people who are vulnerable to economic and environmental uncertainty. It encourages more joined-up place-based conversations that integrate water, biodiversity, climate resilience, community growth and wellbeing.

While highly relevant to Local Authorities, Explore is also designed for partnerships across sectors that are committed to delivering a healthy future for communities and their environments through a range of local plans, products and services.

Pilots demonstrated Explore’s value across a range of strategic and spatial planning contexts, including:

setting out a new local plan (Nottingham City Council),
guiding practical conversations oriented around ‘Healthy Place Making’ (Greater Manchester Combined Authority),
addressing peri-urban planning and development challenges (Surrey County Council),
developing a new regional Green Infrastructure Strategy (Norwich County Council).

Explore is now freely accessible to view and use on the Local Partnerships website. It is designed to support integration and join-up at the level of strategic vision across local authorities. The Framework includes four linked components that help decision-makers move from evidence to action:

Data dashboards present high-level indicators for health and wellbeing, nature and sustainability at local authority level. Drawing on Natural England and Environment Agency data, they provide a snapshot of current performance across four areas:

Health: Focusing on Healthy Life Expectancy
Wellbeing: Using on the Office of National Statistics measures of wellbeing (anxiety, happiness, life satisfaction and sense of worth).
Nature: Presenting the current state of nature (limited to evidence we can cut and present at Local Authority scale)
Sustainability: Showing the current environmental impacts of the area in terms of resource production and consumption.

Factor maps show what influences these outcomes, and how they relate to each other, helping build shared understanding across disciplines.

Horizon-scanning cards prompt discussion about future risks and opportunities.

A facilitation package contains guides and templates to support hands-on Explore workshops (held either in-person or online).

Trained facilitators can assist groups in using Explore, and their support is accessible via the Local Partnerships website.

You can read more about the work of the RENEW team on Explore through their case study page on the RENEW website, and learn more about the tool through the Local Partnerships website.