Suffolk is a beautiful county and its natural environment and quality of life is much treasured by people who visit, live and work here. Whether its wildlife-rich woods and meadows, wild and windswept heaths and estuaries or our stunning coastline, Suffolk's environment has it all.  The natural environment of the county is one of its key strengths, providing a competitive advantage to the economic growth of sectors including tourism, food and drink.  Read our news. 

The quality of Suffolk's natural environment is best demonstrated by the number of local and national designations.  We have a small team of environmental professionals who champion, advise and support the conservation and enhancement of our landscapes, woodlands and wildlife, contributing to make Suffolk the Greenest County.

A large part of our work involves close liaison with our county and district council colleagues on environmental aspects of both national infrastructure (such as Sizewell C) and development management matters. This includes ecological as well as landscape advice. We also support a number of partnerships across Suffolk.

The landscape of Suffolk is rich in natural and cultural heritage.It tells the story of our past and our interaction with the land. The Suffolk Landscape Character Assessment identifies different landscape types and describes their features and how to conserve them.

Rare plant communities continue to thrive on a small number of Suffolk’s roadside verges. Conserving these areas is the purpose of the Roadside Nature Reserves project working with our grass verge cutting contractors, Parish Councils and many volunteers.

We host a number of environmental partnerships including:

The Suffolk Biological Records Centre, which is an essential resource that collects, holds and provides up to date information on the natural environment. Much of our work and that of our partners, regulators and developers is informed by the centre.

We have two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB and Dedham Vale AONB are areas protected nationally for their landscape quality. They are beautiful places to visit and are also important areas for tourism.

While not a nationally protected landscape like the AONBs, the Brecks is of similar importance as a day-visitor and tourism destination. It is also one of England’s most important areas for wildlife.

Suffolk Biodiversity Partnership works to protect priority species and habitats in the county through delivery of practical projects and improving communication about wildlife. The partnership includes a wide range of other environmental organisations.

While hosted by Ipswich Borough Council, we support the innovative Greenways Project which works with local communities and volunteers to look after around 50 nature reserves and green spaces in and around Ipswich for the benefit of wildlife and local people.

 News

April 2013 News (PDF, 46KB)

March 2013 News (PDF, 44KB)

February 2013 News (PDF, 96KB)