Natural England boss Marian Spain has today announced her intention to retire and leave her role as chief executive of Natural England.<\/p>\n
Spain, who has led the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs-sponsored agency since 2018, is set to step down later this year following a\u00a040-year career in nature and environmental conservation in the public and third sectors.<\/p>\n
Natural England said it will shortly launch a recruitment campaign to appoint a new boss, with an anticipated leadership transition in autumn 2026. Spain\u00a0will remain in post until a successor is formally appointed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reflecting on her retirement, Spain said serving as chief exec of Natural had been\u00a0“the privilege of my career”.<\/p>\n
She said she is “immensely proud” of the collective achievements of the agency’s staff and that she steps down “knowing that the organisation is in a strong position to continue leading the change for nature\u2019s recovery and increasing access to nature for all”.<\/p>\n
“I want to thank all my colleagues and partners for their passion and support,” she added.<\/p>\n
Over the last eight years, Spain has overseen a transformative period for Natural England, including the development and launch of its new strategy,\u00a0Recovering Nature for Growth, Health and Security, and\u00a0steering the agency\u2019s recent work on developing the Nature Restoration Fund, the King\u2019s Series of National Nature Reserves and the rollout of the Landscape Recovery scheme.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her tenure also coincides with a historic milestone for public access to nature, as the King Charles III England Coast Path \u2013 the longest coastal path in the world \u2013 nears completion.<\/p>\n
Nature minister Mary Creagh said: “Natural England\u2019s achievements over the past eight years reflect Marian\u2019s outstanding leadership. I want to thank her for her extraordinary dedication to championing nature \u2013 the foundation of our health, wellbeing and economy.<\/p>\n
“Under her stewardship, Natural England has become a driving force in delivering the government\u2019s ambitions \u2013\u00a0from the successful return of beavers to Britain\u2019s waterways to the new Nature Restoration Fund unblocking development while securing lasting improvements for nature. Her work has shown that a thriving natural environment and a growing economy can go hand in hand. I wish her all the best in her retirement and I look forward to working with Natural England to build on the strong foundations she has built.”<\/p>\n
Tony Juniper, chair of Natural England, added: “Marian has been an exceptional leader for Natural England during a period of vital transition and unprecedented ambition for our natural environment. Her unwavering commitment, strategic vision and deep understanding of both the ecological and administrative complexities of nature recovery have been invaluable. We owe her a great debt of gratitude for her tireless service and the robust foundation she leaves behind.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Natural England boss Marian Spain has today announced her intention to retire and leave her role as chief…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-481970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}