Become a Nature Town or Nature City
The Nature Towns and Cities accreditation framework has been designed to help towns and cities become green, thriving places where all communities and residents benefit. Find out how to become accredited and explore the tools and support available.
Apply for accreditation
The Nature Towns and Cities accreditation scheme rewards towns and cities putting nature at the heart of their plans. Working through the framework will help you deliver inclusive growth for your town or city, planning a better natural environment which will help people, place and economy to thrive.
Foundation level is focused on setting your vision, building strong, cross-sector partnerships, and thinking strategically about green infrastructure. Achieving Advanced level will signal your readiness for investment, with projects lined up ready for funding and delivery.
Why apply?
People really value nature being close to home. No matter how they vote, most say their local green spaces are what they’re proudest of in their area. The accreditation framework gives you a way to deliver what your communities want, bringing tangible benefits.
Designed to underpin transformation at scale, the framework will help you plan how green and blue infrastructure can deliver priorities from public health to climate resilience, community empowerment and nature recovery. And it will help you address pressing issues like economic growth, active travel, and youth skills and employment.
Working in partnership makes it easier to make changes, helps everyone feel involved, and strengthens skills. Local authorities and public sector bodies can increase their connections with communities and partners, while voluntary and private sector organisations can play an active role in shaping the strategic direction of their town or city.
Your town or city will be recognised for its plans to deliver urban landscape-scale change, helping you make the case for investment and gain support from partners and the public.
Accreditation has been designed to provide assurance to potential funders and investors that your town or city is ready to deliver ambitious change. This will help to attract funding and finance from public, private and philanthropic sources.
Who can apply and support available
Applications can be made by partnerships of organisations from a town or city. Any organisation can take the lead for applying on behalf of the partners, though the relevant local authority needs to be involved.
There is lots of support available. You can access Nature Towns and Cities resources, case studies, expert advice and mentoring. You can also speak directly to our accreditation team at a dedicated monthly drop-in session, to talk through your application and meet others working on theirs.
How to apply
Watch our 'getting started' webinar
From the archive – watch our team talk through how to get started on your journey to becoming a Nature Town or City.
