AN ECOLOGICAL Emergency could be declared in Warwick district.
Calls are being made for Warwick District Council to step up efforts to protect nature. A meeting will this week consider a notice of motion put forward by Lib-Dem councillor Phil Kohler urging the council to draw up a Biodiversity Action Plan to complement the authority’s Climate Action Plan adopted in 2019 after WDC declared a Climate Emergency.
The climate plan commits WDC to become a net zero council, to reduce carbon emissions of the district as a whole and to enable the district’s environment and communities to adapt to the rise in global temperatures, including an ambitious tree planting programme.
Coun Kohler’s motion calls for a wide-ranging biodiversity plan to sit alongside it – one which would ensure the Government’s Environment Act of 2021 – which aims to clean up the country’s air, restore natural habitats, increase biodiversity, reduce waste and make better use of our resources – was full implemented in Warwick district.
It followed the 2019 National Biodiversity Network State of Nature report which concluded 1,188 of the more than 8,400 species assessed in Great Britain were threatened with extinction.
Coun Kohler’s motion also calls for WDC to ensure biodiversity runs through the new South Warwickshire Local Plan, by for example, creating green corridors, and to work with organisations such as the Environment Agency and Severn Trent to improve the biodiversity of the likes of rivers and lakes in the district.
It also wants to see a reduction in the use of toxic chemicals by WDC contractors, and the development of a biodiversity public awareness and education plan in collaboration with Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, charities and community groups, focused on what
individuals and groups could do in their own areas.
The motion calls for a report containing an outline Biodiversity Action Plan to be presented to WDC’s ruling cabinet in February.
Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, charities and community groups, gardeners, allotment holders and farmers are already actively engaged in trying to improve biodiversity across the district.
And Warwickshire County Council has recently introduced a policy which considers a sustainable county-wide approach to verge maintenance and wildflower planting in order to increase biodiversity while maintaining road safety.
