A Natural Capital Investment Strategy for Dorset

A Natural Place for Business

The Dorset LNP launched its Natural Capital Investment Strategy at its Board meeting in March 2016.

The environment of Dorset is one of the county’s main assets required for economic prosperity and development.  The Natural Capital Investment Strategy is written from the perspective of facilitating development in such a way that business ventures become more reliable, more likely to succeed, and to allow further sustained development.  It is a plan for business and investors.

The strategy does not seek to identify the business interventions that would be needed to achieve a required level of economic benefit as that is the role of the LEP, but it does seek to increase the resilience of proposed developments, identify means to assess proposals most likely to succeed and ensure projects are resilient to external forces.  As such, by applying principles that protect and enhance the natural environment, minimise carbon footprint, for example by efficiency savings, as well as support and sustain community development, projects will attract investment and have a greater probability of success, including community support.

Dorset’s Environmental Economy

The strategy should be read alongside the Dorset Environmental Economy Study commissioned by Dorset County Council, Dorset AONB and the Jurassic Coast Team.  The study highlights that while it is advisable to avoid a single measure of the environmental economy, the central estimate is that it contributes, on a comparable basis with other economic statistics, about £1.5bn of gross value added (GVA) a year and supports about 30,000 jobs in Dorset – or 8 to 10 per cent of total annual economic output and employment.

Dorset AONB Environmental Economy Report

Jurassic Coast WHS Environmental Economy Report

Further information

Please contact info@dorsetlnp.org.uk if you have any queries.