Your Wiltshire county NFU update

A new initiative is taking shape across Wiltshire and Swindon, one designed to ensure conditions for farmers, landowners, and land managers are better supported while also strengthening both the natural environment and long-term rural resilience.

The Wiltshire and Swindon Local Nature Partnership (WSLNP) brings together leading organisations across the environment, infrastructure, and local government sectors to help drive nature recovery forward from an aspiration into practical, landscape-scale delivery.

Restarted in January 2026 and formally launched at it’s first WSLNP annual forum in May, the partnership is built around a simple idea: real progress depends on organisations working differently, coordinating earlier, and making it easier for land-based businesses and communities to engage with each other.

The partnership will deliver clear pathways, better coordination, and more joined-up support in place so that future engagement with nature recovery is practical, credible, and aligned with productive, viable, profitable land management.

WSLNP has brought together partners from the National Trust, Natural England, Wessex Water, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, Wiltshire Council, and Swindon Borough Council, who together are working to align investment, advice, and delivery. The aim is clear; to reduce fragmentation and make it easier for land managers to understand where opportunities are emerging and how they could fit within their own systems and priorities.

For more information contact Sacha Clements, Wiltshire and Swindon Local Nature Partnership Manager.
Email: [email protected]. 

Eurasian beavers have been living wild in Wiltshire since the late 2000s, and have become established across the county, predominantly in the Bristol Avon catchment, and more recently in the Hampshire Avon catchment and river Kennet.

Simon Smart (Smart Land Management and Ecology) and Gareth Harris (consultant ecologist and county recorder for Wiltshire Mammal Group) have launched an advisory service to provide advice, information and help to landowners in Wiltshire who are once again learning to live with beavers.

They are planning a series of events in 2026 in collaboration with organisations such as Beaver Trust and Natural England, we will share any updates on this when we hear more.

Please get in touch if you need some help, via the website or email [email protected]

Wiltshire Council has launched Digital Wiltshire, a new online portal designed to keep residents and businesses informed about the progress of gigabit-capable broadband infrastructure being upgraded across the county.

This new portal supports delivery of the government's Project Gigabit programme, which aims to deliver full fibre connectivity upgrades to rural and hard-to-reach areas by 2032.

Through Digital Wiltshire, users can access:

• interactive mapping: View Building Digital UK open market review (OMR) information on fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) upgrades as we receive it, including 'Ready for Service' (RFS) status.
• connectivity classifications: Understand coverage categories (White, Grey, Black, Orange) and what they mean at premises and location level.
• guidance and support: Access FAQs, check availability, and find links to national resources such as Building Digital UK, Ofcom, and Think Broadband.
• community engagement: Participate in surveys for example to report mobile 'not spots' and share experiences to help gather evidence to improve coverage.

See ARCGIS: Digital Wiltshire(opens new window) for more information. If you have any enquiries email [email protected]

Wiltshire Council need as many people as possible, particularly those living and working within rural Wiltshire to report mobile ‘not spots’ as they encounter them. They are trying to target all parts of Wiltshire as widely as they can. Please use the below link to submit. 

Please note a mobile ‘not spot’ is either a non-existent service or a service that is regarded as poor.

Mobile Connectivity in Wiltshire - to submit mobile ‘not spot’ locations

The future aim is to create a clear, interactive map showing where coverage gaps have been reported across Wiltshire and which mobile network operators were notified, in order to try and improve or remove ‘not spots'. 

The Environment Agency has released a video for farmers and contractors on slurry store construction and SSAFO regulations. It explains slurry and silage storage management, the benefits of getting it right, and how to stay compliant. Please click below to watch the video.

For more information: 

Farming Rules for Water: Guidance on Farming Rules for Water – NFUonline

SSAFO Regulations: Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil storage – what you need to know – NFUonline