Business plan 2025-2026

Introduction

Our corporate plan, Nature and People Thriving Together, sets out our vision, mission and well-being objectives to 2030 and beyond. This Business Plan sets out what we will do specifically in 2025-26 to deliver against those well-being objectives to meet our vision. The plan has been prepared in line the Welsh Government Framework Document and the Term of Government Remit Letter.

Our funding for 2025-26

Welsh Ministers’ annual allocation of budget, set out in the statement of budgetary provision, has determined the financial resources available to us through direct grant in aid from Government. This is likely to amount to £141.4 million in 2025-26, compared to the £124.4 million we were originally allocated at the start of 2024-25. Our total funding is £298.3 million.

The majority of our funding comes from Welsh Government through Grant in Aid with a proportion allocated to revenue and to capital. Commercial activities, principally timber sales, generate commercial income of £54.5 million, while charges generated through regulated activities amount to £49.5 million. We are also in receipt of specific Welsh Government Grants of £41.1 million, and grants from external funding bodies such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund and EU funds secured under the LIFE programme, amounting to £9.8 million.

This year our Grant in Aid budget has increased by £17 million, split between revenue of £14.9 million and capital of £2.1 million. The revenue element is a permanent increase in funding, with the NRW Chair and Deputy First Minister agreeing that £4 million is allocated for investment in targeted areas to realise their shared ambition for water quality, biodiversity, evidence monitoring and flood risk management. The investment will support integrated delivery of those things that will accelerate progress on specific steps to take in the corporate plan, as well as testing new ways of working across teams and with partners. The remainder will help us meet the costs of increases in civil service pension, national insurance and pay costs. It also includes an allocation towards the new Infrastructure Bill. Ministers have allocated a further £2.7 million (capital) to develop and test a new digital platform for marine licencing.

Alongside this increase in Grant in Aid, the level of funding allocated by Welsh Ministers to NRW through specific grant award letters has increased: this reflects a combination of new grant awards and increases to existing grant awards such as Nature and Climate Emergency Funds (NaCE).

These increases in funding are very welcome, but do pose their own challenges and risks at a time when we are starting to move out of an organisation wide change programme involving recruitment controls and the removal of a 200 posts from the structure. With pent up recruitment demand, with over 400 vacancies across the organisation, alongside the need to scale up delivery in those areas identified for investment, our Executive Team are focused on retaining the greatest flexibility, so we avoid the need for future change programmes and can adapt to changes in our operating environment. We are focussing on delivery using a range of range of different mechanisms, including external procurement, grants, partnerships, placements, apprenticeships and temporary staff as well as some permanent staff. This approach will be applied to both the additional Grant in aid and Grant Award Letter funding.

Ministers have agreed to setting a timber income threshold of £33 million for 2025-26 that will shield us from the fluctuations in timber income. If the income drops below this threshold, Welsh Government will fund the differential through grant in aid.

What we will deliver in 2025-26

Under each well-being objective, we have identified a series of steps to take that define the outcomes or the change we want to see by 2030.

We know we will not be able to realise the outcomes of each well-being objective or step to take straight away. In these early years, we need to lay the foundations by doing the preparatory work, such as interrogating the evidence base or developing and testing different tools and approaches that will enable us to accelerate delivery in future years.

In preparing the plan, we have drawn on the insight from the case for change prioritisation exercise alongside the Term of Government Remit letter, Welsh Government Grant Award Letters and the Welsh Government budget allocation.

The priority areas for investment agreed by the Deputy First Minister and NRW Chair, namely water quality, biodiversity, evidence monitoring and flood risk management, are highlighted in this business plan. These areas are put in the “spotlight” to show how the investment is accelerating specific steps to take as well as strengthening underpinning regulatory and statutory advice services.

We have defined annual commitments and key deliverables for a suite of steps to take under each well-being objective. These annual commitments set the ambition of what we will do in 2025-26 to progress towards the step to take 2030 outcome. The key deliverables allow us to track progress, enabling us to assess if the commitments are being achieved.

Through 2024-25 the case for change impacted delivery, with progress on many commitments and key deliverables slower than anticipated. The quarter 3 performance report identified an increase in the number of predicted ‘amber’ and ‘red’ at year-end, with the pathway to green dependent on the release of the recruitment controls. It is likely that the earliest these commitments will return to green is Q3 in 2025-26. For this reason these commitments and deliverables are retained within the 2025-26 Annual Business Plan.

The detail of the annual commitments and associated key deliverable metrics are set out in Annex 1. The defined metrics will be tracked through quarterly reporting.

Our three well-being objectives are outcome focussed, setting the ambition and direction of the change we want to see in Wales for nature, climate and pollution to 2030 and beyond. To fully realise these ambitions we need to change how we work evolving established practices and taking every opportunity to innovate and improve. This narrative is reflected in the latter sections of the corporate plan.

To provide greater precision and transparency for colleagues and partners we are preparing an additional well-being objective that focuses on our ambition for the organisation we want to be in 2030, recognising that the organisation must empower our people and evolve the ways we work. The additional well-being objective will focus on four areas of investment where we will equip our teams with the leadership, tools and resources needed to adapt, grow and thrive. These investments will strengthen our organisation’s ability to navigate the challenges ahead with a series of steps to take aligned to our leadership and culture, our communication, collaboration and advocacy, our services and our evidence. Together these will strengthen our foundations and accelerate delivery of the outcomes for nature, climate and pollution through to 2030 and beyond.

We will be engaging with colleagues and selected partners over the spring and summer with the Board signing-off at its meeting in October. For these additional steps to take, we intend to include a selection as annual commitments and deliverables in our quarterly reporting process from quarter three. These will reflect the work we are doing on areas such as roll-out of learning and development opportunities and improvements to recruitment processes including the flexible resource pool. Following publication of the refreshed Anti-Racism Wales Action Plan in November 2024, we are further developing and embedding work in this area. To measure and demonstrate our progress, we will include a specific commitment with deliverables that will reflect the delivery of a comprehensive anti-racism training package for all colleagues through the development and implementation of a new Learning Management System module; the establishment of anti-racism objectives for all Board, Executive, and Leadership Team members and completion of the ArWAP Maturity Matrix through baselining current status and establishing a new Staff Network through providing a dedicated forum for ArWAP discussions.

ANNEX 1: What we will deliver in 2025-26

Wellbeing Objective 1: Nature is Recovering

By 2030 the change we want to see: the decline in biodiversity is halted; effective regulation, habitat restoration and nature-based solutions contribute to increasingly resilient ecosystems enabling adaptation to change, benefiting people’s well-being. (Impact Statement 1)

The 2025-26 annual commitments reflect our contribution the proposed new legislation on environmental principles, governance and biodiversity targets, the proposed pilots for the Sustainable Farming Scheme, as well as delivery of the Nature Network Programme and the process for designation of a new national park.

These set the foundations for meeting the 2030 global targets for nature on land, sea and in freshwaters. Whilst we have not included specific commitments related to supporting the Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) Bill this will form a large part of our specialists workplan through the year. We have not included all the steps to take in this year’s business plan nor the vital underpinning work we do we do to protect nature. We will continue for example to undertake environmental monitoring and reporting, respond to planning applications, issue permits, undertake compliance visits and where necessary take enforcement action.

Area of Focus: Nature being protected

Step to take: Improving the condition of features at protected terrestrial, marine and freshwater sites through using our advisory and regulatory tools, financial incentives and undertaking monitoring to evaluate effectiveness.

Commitment for 2025-26: Evaluate the NRW Nature Networks Programme to inform future investment for protected sites.

Key deliverables:

Increased understanding of the effectiveness and efficiency of activity delivered across the NRW Nature Networks programme through evaluation of 70% of current and previous activity by end of Q2 to establish the baseline
Increased effectiveness of future NRW Nature Network’s activity through identification of priorities and development of approaches to delivery by end of Q3 (informed by outcomes of deliverable 1).

Next step for 2026-27: Prioritise actions which have the greatest impact on the condition of SSSI features.

Area of Focus: Nature being protected

Step to take: Extending the protection and management of at least 30 per cent of land, freshwater and sea for nature through identifying opportunities to enlarge and better connect the series of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)

Commitment for 2025-26: Synthesise evidence to identify priorities for notification and renotification of sites contributing to the 30:30 target.

Key deliverables:

Increased the understanding of the extent and connectivity of the current SSSI series through completing an assessment of all sites by the end of Q2
Increased advice to accelerate notifications and re-notifications through the publication of the SSSI Notification Handbook by the end of Q4
Increased the effectiveness of the allocation of investment for delivering an enhanced notification programme by identifying, selecting and costing priority sites to contribute to 30x30 by the end of Q3

Next step for 2026-27: Prioritise opportunities for notification of SSSIs and the use of other measures outside of the SSSI series.

Area of Focus: Nature being protected

Step to take: Protecting species at the greatest risk of extinction through using our advisory and regulatory tools, working in partnership and monitoring to evaluate effectiveness.

Commitment for 2025-26: Review the Natur am Byth partnership programme's 4-year delivery plan to evaluate, and as appropriate refine, action for species most at risk of extinction in the final two years of programme

Key deliverables:

Increased understanding of the status of target species through 90% completion of interim species recovery assessments by the end of Q3
Sustained delivery of the Natur am Byth programme through evaluation of progress against five programme aims informing external funder interim review by the end of Q3
Improved activity plans for the 10 partners through implementation of the interim review recommendations from National Lottery Heritage Fund Review by the end of Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Consolidate the Natur am Byth '2.0' legacy plan to secure momentum for species recovery in Wales after funding ends in August 2027

Area of Focus: Nature being restored

Step to take: Accelerating improvements to the condition of the Marine Protected Area Network through robust monitoring and investigations, evidence, advice and working with others on project delivery

Commitment for 2025-26: Communicate and build understanding of the condition of the Marine Protected Area Network to inform targeted action and improvements

Key deliverables:

Improved targeting of projects and programmes towards priority issues across the MPA network through effective communication of new condition assessments for Welsh only marine SACs and SPAs by the end of Q2
Initiated work to progress condition assessments for cross border sites through working with Natural England on a pilot feature by the end of Q4
Increased understanding into declines in specific species and habitats through undertaking investigations under the Marine Nature Networks programme, setting out findings and recommendations in a series of reports by the end of Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Commit to progress all features of the Severn SAC to deliver completed condition assessments and conservation advice

Area of Focus: Nature being restored

Step to take: Accelerating action for nature’s recovery at a landscape scale through sharing our evidence and expertise with National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and other partners

Commitment for 2025-26: Integrate nature recovery evidence into the proposed new National Park process and management of existing AONBs and National Parks to improve decision making for nature

Key deliverables:

Established the case for a new National Park through completion of evidence reports and consultation exercise to inform a NRW Board decision on the statutory stage of the National Park Designation process by the end of Q4
Increased integration of nature and climate action into the management plans of National Park and National Landscapes through the refresh of the Designated Landscapes Management Plan Guidance and NRW Grant aid by the end of Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Play our part in the National Park Designation

Area of Focus: Nature is respected and valued in decision-making by

Step to take: Delivering multiple benefits and opportunities for nature, people and the rural economy through supporting Welsh Government in the development and implementation of the Sustainable Farming Scheme, providing evidence and expertise

Commitment for 2025-26: Provide evidence and expertise to inform the development of the Welsh Government Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) and identify with Welsh Government what support services may be required

Key deliverables:

Established operational readiness programme plan and communications strategy through the detailed planning, development, and internal dissemination of information to facilitate awareness of the scheme by the end of Q2
Sustained support to Welsh Government's development of technical guidance and scheme ambassadors through translation of Habitat Wales Scheme into SFS ready schedules of work to support farmer action by the end of Q3
Sustained capacity within NRW to support SFS implementation through handover of delivery from Programme Team to Operationals by the end of Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Maintain ongoing support for designated sites management plans and woodland verification processes to ensure the continued delivery of outcomes for nature and people

Area of Focus: NRW as an exemplar nature positive organisation

Step to take: Ensuring nature’s protection and recovery is integrated into NRW's financial and business decisions through applying the lessons learnt from others on effective tools and frameworks

Commitment for 2025-26: Implementing No Mow May, piloting new approaches to working with nature on the land and assets that we manage, identifying prioritised recommendations

Key deliverables:

Decreased the amount of mowing on NRW flood risk management assets by the end of Q4 through:
(a) 70% of assets not mown during No Mow May,
(b) identification of alternative approaches to reduce mowing and work with nature, initiating pilots at key flood risk management assets (number to be determined)

Next step for 2026-27: Implementing revised programme.

Area of Focus: NRW as an exemplar nature positive organisation

Commitment for 2025-26: Increased awareness and understanding of opportunities to drive action for nature, climate and pollution minimisation via our suppliers and partners delivered through our Procurement and Contracts Strategy

Key deliverables:

Established the NRW Procurement and Contracts Strategy through its publication by the end of Q3
Completed the review of good practice regarding opportunities to integrate nature, climate, and pollution minimisation into our supply chain and partners through the identification of key recommendations to inform our Procurement and Contracts Action Plan by the end of Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Deliver in line with our Procurement and Contracts Action Plan

Wellbeing Objective 2: Communities are resilient to climate change

By 2030 the change we want to see: sustained action on the causes, risks and impacts of climate change means nature and people are enabled and empowered to adapt, alleviating the effects on people’s well-being (Impact Statement 2)

Our annual commitments for 2025-26 reflect our continuing contribution to decarbonisation of industrial processes and development of alternative low-carbon energy sources, engagement with onshore and offshore renewable energy developers to explore and develop new schemes, including on the Welsh Government Woodland Estate. There will be a continued focus on delivery of the National Peatland Programme as well as delivering priority actions in our net zero plan particularly through our procurement and contract management service. This year we will embed improvements to the new flood warning system for communities across Wales.

We have not included all the steps to take in this year’s business plan. We will continue to manage the land in our care, producing timber and creating new woodlands on the Welsh Government Woodland Estate, restoring peatland and adapting to climate change across all our sites. Our Adfywio programme will continue to focus on reducing our carbon use in fleet and facilities, and we will continue to roll out carbon literacy training across the organisation.

Area of Focus: Nature based solutions being widely adopted

Step to take: Restoring peatland through the National Peatland Action Programme (NPAP) working with delivery partners, including on the land in our care using a range of advisory and regulatory tools, financial incentives and undertaking monitoring to evaluate effectiveness

Commitment for 2025-26: Invest in capacity building to enable delivery in 2025-26 and future expansion of the National Peatland Action Programme

Key deliverables:

Increased the hectares of peatland that have undergone restoration activity through the completion of 600 hectares of restoration activity by the end of Q4
Improved the effectiveness of our input into the land use planning system in reducing the negative effect of development on peatland through the production of an NRW policy position on Planning Policy Wales Edition 12 to effect change in 2026-27 by the end of Q4
Strengthened the National Peatland Action Programme (NPAP) through the evaluation of programme delivery to inform priorities for the next 5-years by the end of Q2

Next step for 2026-27: Expand the NPAP programme through collaborative work with partners across Wales to increase the hectares of peatland restored

Area of Focus: Nature based solutions being widely adopted

Step to take: Stimulating restoration of marine and coastal habitats such as saltmarsh, sand dunes, sea grass and native oyster reef through working with delivery partners, using a range of advisory and regulatory tools, financial incentives and undertaking monitoring to evaluate effectiveness

Commitment for 2025-26: Strengthen capacity and evidence informing spatial prioritisation to enable effective future restoration within marine and coastal habitats

Key deliverables:

Increased the success and efficiency of marine and coastal restoration in Welsh waters through consultation and publication of guidance on marine and coastal restoration projects by the end of Q3
Increased the spatial targeting of marine and coastal restoration projects through refining existing opportunity maps for restoration of seagrass and native oyster by the end of Q4
Established a cross-Wales saltmarsh restoration partnership and programme through convening partners and promoting key evidence by the end of Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Work with others to enable effective restoration in the most suitable marine and coastal habitat locations

Area of Focus: Nature based solutions being widely adopted

Step to take: Mitigating the impacts of floods and droughts and improving water quality through identifying opportunities for integrated management of land and water at the catchment scale

Commitment for 2025-26: Develop an integrated catchment approach in the Taff using the ‘Taff Catchment Strategic Flood Management Plan’ to facilitate collaborative action to support communities at risk of flooding

Key deliverables:

Established a collaborative project approach with Risk Management Authorities through identification of opportunities to improve ways of working together by the end of Q4
Increased support for the Strategic Management Plan through engagement with communities and stakeholders by the end of Q3
Established shared understanding of the opportunities in the Taff Catchment through publication of a high level summary of agreed next steps by the end of Q4

Commitment for 2026-27: Implement the collaborative approach to the Taff to progress the project and communities' shared ambitions

Area of Focus: The risks of climate change being managed and adapted

Step to take: Reducing the risk to life from flooding to people and communities from main rivers, reservoirs and the sea, through the delivery of flood alleviation schemes

Commitment for 2025-26: Deliver capital projects and sustain levels of protection for properties to reduce flood risk

Key deliverables:

Reduced flood risk to communities through the development of new flood schemes this year in Cardigan, Pwllheli, Porthmadog, Tenby, these will reduce the risk of flooding to 1344 properties in these communities in future years by the end of Q4
Sustained flood protection to over 800 properties through non-routine capital maintenance of existing assets/defences by the end of Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Deliver prioritised capital works to reduce flood risk in line with programme priorities, reducing risk and sustaining flood protection to communities in Wales

Area of Focus: The risks of climate change being managed and adapted

Step to take: Reducing the risk to life from flooding through issuing flood warnings that meet the changing needs of communities and maintaining and improving the 24/7 Flood Warning Service

Commitment for 2025-26: Improve the Flood Warning Service and Telemetry System to deliver efficiencies and maintain continuity of service to customers

Key deliverables:

Sustained delivery to all customers of telemetry data through migrating to the new Telemetry System, ensuring that we provide the evidence needed to support our key services by the end of Q3
Improved the new Flood Warning Information System for Wales through development of prioritised enhancement plan by the end of Q3

Next step for 2026-27: Evolve the Flood Warning Service, delivering enhancements, further efficiencies and improvements for customers

Area of Focus: The risks of climate change being managed and adapted

Step to take: Reducing the risk to life from flooding through managing our flood assets and infrastructure for current and future flood risk and planning for change through maintaining and adapting the flood assets and infrastructure we are accountable for

Commitment for 2025-26: Review the prioritisation approach for flood asset maintenance and management to ensure our investment is risk based

Key deliverables:

Increased the effectiveness and efficiency of the allocation of routine flood maintenance revenue through the implementation of the Risk-Based Revenue Allocation Model (RBRAM), ensuring that we invest in communities at the greatest need by the end of Q4
Increased the effectiveness and efficiency of the allocation of flood asset investment through the delivery of the Assets Facing Change (AFC) Project which will support our future understanding of adaptation needs by the end of Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Develop the strategies and tools required to inform the long-term response to the need for flood asset adaptation

Area of Focus: Carbon emissions being reduced

Step to take: Stimulating adoption of alternative low carbon and carbon capture technologies in industry through providing specialist advice and guidance to inform planning permission and/or permit applications

Commitment for 2025-26: Development of advice, guidance and tools on low carbon techniques and infrastructure, including Carbon Capture and Hydrogen, to improve the quality of applications submitted by industry and reduce the length of time to determine individual permit applications

Key deliverables:

80% of permit determinations or draft determinations approved in line with agreed developer timescales through engagement with all known Final Investment Decision (FID) track projects by end of Q2
Increased integration of low carbon technologies and EMS through completion of report identifying opportunities to change Welsh Government policy and legislation by the end of Q4
Decreased the amount of landfill gas released directly from landfill through delivery of the key priorities of the Landfill Emissions Reduction Project by the end of Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Implement changes to planning and permitting processes in relation to alternative low carbon and carbon capture technologies

Area of Focus: Carbon emissions being reduced

Step to take: Supporting the development of sustainable offshore and onshore renewable energy through our evidence, advice and regulation, building a common understanding of the standards required in the statutory planning and permitting processes

Commitment for 2025-26: Enhance evidence, guidance and pre-application advice to improve the quality of submissions for planning permissions and permit/licence applications

Key deliverables:

Increased Marine Renewables guidance and evidence through delivery of initial stages of 40% of high priority guidance and evidence projects by end of Q4
Improved the marine service to enhance user experience through delivery of 70% of the prioritised actions arising from the End to End Review of Marine Licensing (3 year programme) and development of the Marine Licensing public beta (customer platform) by the end of Q4
Maintained service levels for determining marine renewable permit applications at 95% by the end of Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Deliver the remaining prioritised actions arising from the End to End Review of Marine Licensing

Area of Focus: NRW being an exemplar organisation for a carbon positive public sector

Step to take: Strengthening our strategic approach to decarbonisation through developing and delivering an organisation-wide net zero plan, building on the lessons learnt of partners

Commitment for 2025-26: Prioritise actions with the greatest cost benefit on carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e)/ greenhouse gases (GHGs) to deliver our annual prioritisation within the Net Zero Plan

Key deliverables:

Assess the whole life carbon impact of each design option at both outline and detailed design stage for all capital construction projects utilising the Environment Agency's ERIC Carbon Modelling Tool to inform the selection of the final design and reduce carbon footprint by the end of Q3
Assess the carbon impact of material and operational options, at construction stage, of all capital construction projects above £750k contract value (excluding VAT) utilising the Environment Agency's ERIC Carbon Calculator to reduce carbon footprint of the scheme by the end of Q3
Increase the percentage of staff completing climate literacy training to more than 50% of all NRW staff, through the delivery of the Climate Literacy Training Programme and become an accredited Carbon Literate Organisation – Silver standard

Next step for 2026-27: Expand delivery on priority actions within the Net Zero Plan

Area of Focus: NRW being an exemplar organisation for a carbon positive public sector

Step to take: Ensuring actions for climate are driven throughout our supply chains, grant programmes and land management agreements through inclusion in our procurement and funding frameworks

Commitment for 2025-26: Implement the NRW Net Zero Delivery Plan 2025-30 to deliver agreed prioritised actions (relating to scope 3 emissions in our supply chain)

Key deliverables:

100% of formal procurement tender and quotation documents include carbon related requirements from suppliers by the end of Q3
50% increase in the number of Carbon Reduction Plans received for NRW procurement contracts and frameworks above £5 million or equivalent organisational emissions statement by the end of Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Implement prioritised actions in the NRW Net Zero Delivery Plan 2025-30 (relating to scope 3 emissions in our supply chain)

Wellbeing Objective 3: Pollution is minimised

By 2030 the change we want to see: pollution is minimised through effective regulation and legislative reform, reducing harm to biodiversity and people’s well-being, and driving the sustainable management and use of natural resources (Impact Statement 3)

Our annual commitments for 2025-26 reflect our continued work to embed the new workplace recycling legislation and monitoring delivery by the water companies of the new programme of investment in environmental improvements following the final price determination in December 2024.

We will be focussing on embedding the changes to our approach to incident management, to enable us to integrate preventative action into incident response. Alongside these traditional regulatory approaches, we will continue to deliver prioritised action at the catchment scale and explore opportunities for innovation and collaboration with partners, through for example the Teifi Demonstrator Project. We have not included all the steps to take in this year’s business plan. We will continue for example to issue permits, undertake compliance visits, respond to incidents and where necessary take enforcement action.

Area of Focus: Effective use of regulatory tools and approaches

Step to take: Ensuring the sectors we regulate, including illegal non-permitted activities, take effective action to control and minimise pollution and increase resource efficiency through the provision of advice and guidance that effectively sets out the standards required to ensure compliance

Commitment for 2025-26: Undertake farm inspections under Agriculture Pollution Regulations, in line with the enforcement sanctions policy to reduce pollution

Key deliverables:

Maintained the level of service for the number of compliance inspections under the Agriculture Pollution Regulations through completing 80% of the scheduled 821 sites (which are identified as those with higher risk activities) by the end of Q4
Improved effectiveness of regulatory approach through completion of annual regulation report analysing inspections carried out and follow-up actions by the end of Q2

Next step for 2026-27: Improve efficiency and effectiveness of compliance inspections under the Agriculture Pollution Regulations

Area of Focus: Effective use of regulatory tools and approaches

Step to take: Ensuring the sectors we regulate, including illegal non-permitted activities, take effective action to control and reduce pollution and increase resource efficiency through the provision of advice and guidance that effectively sets out the standards required to ensure compliance

Commitment for 2025-26: Undertake compliance visits at prioritised regulated sites to reduce pollution

Key deliverables:

Sustained delivery of 95% of category 1 and category 2 compliance breaches being subject to further compliance effort (action or review) within 6 months by the end of Q4
Increased effectiveness and efficiency of compliance work through the production of an annual regulatory report with recommendations for improvement by the end of Q2

Next step for 2026-27: Improve efficiency and effectiveness of compliance visits

Area of Focus: Effective use of regulatory tools and approaches

Step to take: Minimising pollution and waste through working collaboratively with industry and others to identify how legislation and Welsh Government policy need to change

Commitment for 2025-26: Implement targeted regulatory activities for key business sectors and waste service providers to improve compliance with the Workplace Recycling Regulations

Key deliverables:

Embedded the business as usual delivery model for workplace recycling through the development and implementation of the regulatory work plan by the end of Q2
Maintain percentage of businesses within priority sectors compliant with Workplace Recycling Regulations through evaluation of quarterly inspections data by the end of Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Integrate delivery of Workplace Recycling into regulatory delivery to effectively align with Welsh Government ambition and available funding

Area of Focus: Effective use of regulatory tools and approaches

Step to take: Protecting the environment and improving environmental performance of water companies through effective challenge of their investment programmes to secure action to improve

Commitment for 2025-26: Provide challenge and advice to water companies to ensure their investment programmes reduce the risks and impacts of their operations on the environment

Key deliverables:

Monitored planned investment by water companies in AMP8 through tracking delivery of water company National Environment Programme and commence work with water sector to establish priorities for PR29 by the end of Q4
Increased the effectiveness of the three water company's drought plans through providing advice to the Welsh Government on the adequacy of their Statement of Responses to public consultation by the end of Q3
Assessed the quality and reliability of water company self-monitoring procedures and identified areas for improvement through the delivery of an Operator Monitoring Audit by the end of Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Maintain ongoing work to track the progress of water company delivery expected in 2026-27

Area of Focus: Effective use of regulatory tools and approaches

Step to take: Minimising pollution in highly protected and designated waters through identifying the actions required of a range of sectors

Commitment for 2025-26: Set the ambition for water quality improvements at a catchment scale to build collaboration and deliver prioritised action

Key deliverables:

Increased our knowledge and understanding of the causes of waterbody failure (both Water Framework Directive (WFD) Regulations and Special Area of Conservation (SAC)) through completion of 35 investigations for water quality failures in the Gwyrfai, Eden, Dee and Irfon SACs; and 75 investigations for water quality failures in WFD only waterbodies by the end of Q4
Increased the resilience of highly protected and designated waters to pressures, including water quality pressures, through improvement/ restoration of 150km of rivers as part of NRWs partnership projects (DeeLIFE, 4 Rivers for LIFE and Nature and Climate Emergency Funded projects) by the end of Q4
Improved action on nutrients issues in marine SACs through completion of a prioritised action plan by the end of Q3

Next step for 2026-27: Implement further investigations into the drivers of waterbody failures to inform future action

Area of Focus: Incident response being risk-based

Step to take: Minimising harm from environmental pollution incidents through preparing for, and responding to priority incidents as a Category 1 responder

Commitment for 2025-26: Embed changes to incident management approach and ways of working to enable a prioritised response to incidents focussing resource to those which cause the most harm

Key deliverables:

Established understanding of rebalancing resource from low impact incident response to planned actions in relevant service plans (water, land, biodiversity for example) through tracking progress and revising procedures
Maintained level of service at 95% to review and record response to incidents recorded as high urgency by ICC within 4 hours
Increased closure of incidents reports within 30 days through more effective use of management information

Next step for 2026-27: Implement improvements to the incident management service

Area of Focus: Incident response being risk-based

Step to take: Minimising the harm from specific sectors and within specific geographic areas through using evidence to take action to improve compliance

Commitment for 2025-26: Enhance our understanding of the drivers of pollution incidents across Wales to inform the actions needed to minimise pollution and ensure our incident response is targeted and effective in support of that aim

Key deliverables:

Increased our knowledge of pollution incidents (incident numbers, types, locations, impacts and resource allocation) by producing a detailed analysis report (by end of Q2) and informing focus areas, strategies and actions by end of Q4
Increased opportunities to integrate preventative action into the Incident Management Strategy through:
(a) development of an options paper and
(b) decisions at NRW business groups on priorities
Improved our response to different types of environmental incidents through completion of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for key environmental issues

Next step for 2026-27: Sustained improvement in incident management response through completion of prioritised actions from the incident management strategy

Area of Focus: Incident response being risk-based

Step to take: Minimising the harm from serious environmental crime through investigating incidents and taking strong and decisive action

Commitment for 2025-26: Undertake investigation and enforcement action to minimise environmental harm

Key deliverables:

Maintained level of service of 95% of decisions taken on an appropriate enforcement responses within 3 months by the end of Q4
Increased effectiveness and efficiency of service through delivery of the Annual Regulatory Report (by the end of Q2) and Tackling Waste Crime quarterly reports (each quarter)
Improved efficiency and focus on enforcement responses through implementation of prioritised actions in the enforcement strategy and internal audit of enforcement by the end of Q2 and Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Implement improvements to the service through delivery of prioritised actions from the enforcement strategy and internal audit of enforcement

Area of Focus: Incident response being risk-based

Step to take: Minimising the harm from illegal waste through taking action with local authorities and third sector partners to prevent fly-tipping

Commitment for 2025-26: Strengthen ways of working with Local Authorities and third sector partners to maximise collective action on fly-tipping

Key deliverables:

Improved ways of working on fly-tipping between NRW and partner agencies by publishing an updated Fly-tipping Protocol (by end of Q3) and trialling 1 local agreement (by end of Q4)
Sustained collaborative interventions to reduce fly-tipping through establishment of three new regional partnership working groups by the end of Q3
Improved evidence, monitoring and evaluation of fly-tipping through use of shared tools and systems (e.g. Power BI, Waste Data Flow, FlyMapper); increased awareness and deterrence of fly tipping on the Welsh Government Woodland Estate through delivery of enforcement action

Next step for 2026-27: Deliver impactful partnership projects and local interventions to tackle fly-tipping, leveraging improved ways of working between stakeholders under the revised fly-tipping protocol and regional working groups

Cross Cutting

Steps to take:

Identifying opportunities to optimise the collective action and impact of the public sector through using SoNaRR and Area Statements to work with the Public Services Boards, public health and local authorities.
Involving different communities and sectors in our work, through applying behavioural insights to inform our approaches.
Ensuring a diverse range of people are taking action for nature through sharing the vision and outcomes from Nature and Us to expand our networks and increase involvement

Commitment for 2025-26: Advocate and support the use of the latest climate, nature and pollution evidence (including the interim SoNaRR Report 2025) in decision making amongst our public and third sector partners to facilitate a collaborative approach to delivery

Key deliverables:

Increased knowledge amongst sector bodies and wider stakeholders of how to optimise collective action on nature, climate and pollution through publishing the final SoNaRR 2025 by the end of Q3
Greater partner engagement and collaboration through the creation of engagement tools and support for Public Service Boards using SoNaRR and Area Statements in their planning and decision-making by the end of Q4

Next step for 2026-27: Accelerate the pace and expand the scale of public sector response to address the Climate and Nature emergencies

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