AN ACTION plan to deal with the ecological emergency in Warwick district is set to receive the green light.
The Biodiversity Action Programme has been developed in response to Warwick District Council’s declaration of an Ecological Emergency in October 2022.
The action programme sets the strategic direction to 2050 for how WDC will respond to the need to protect, conserve and enhance biodiversity in the district, with a particular focus on the council’s own land and operations.
In 2019 WDC was faced with the stark news that the pace of climate change was outstripping people’s ability to mitigate and adapt to it. Councillors were also told biodiversity had been massively depleted by decades of habitat loss, neglect, development, pollution and changes in climate.
In response, WDC declared a Climate Emergency and developed a Climate Change Action Programme. WDC then followed this up with an Ecological Emergency declaration in October 2022 and resolved to develop a new Biodiversity Action Programme to complement the CCAP and position WDC as the leading organisation to enhance biodiversity in the district.
As part of the Ecological Emergency declaration, councillors requested that the BAP improve biodiversity in the green spaces managed by WDC and its contractors, set out options for further reducing the amount of glyphosate and other toxic chemicals that are used by WDC and its contractors – including at least one option to completely eliminate their use – and ensure that the provisions of the Environment Act 2021 for Biodiversity Net Gain are fully implemented in all developments in the district.
Other aims of the BAP include to ensure that biodiversity runs through the new South Warwickshire Local Plan, for example, by creating green corridors, and to develop a public awareness and education plan for biodiversity in collaboration with Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, charities and community groups, focusing on what individuals and groups can do in their own local areas.
In addition, The Environment Act 2021 introduced a strengthened duty on all public authorities in England to consider what they can do to conserve and enhance biodiversity.
As part of the duty, WDC is required to produce a biodiversity report every five years to demonstrate how it is complying with this and to show the positive changes being made. The development and delivery of the BAP can form part of the evidence for WDC’s first report to government, required by January 2026.
The overall vision of the BAP, developed and produced by consultants Waterman Infrastructure and Environment along with officers from WDC;s climate change team and green spaces, is “to make Warwick district a place that is rich in nature, delivering multiple benefits for wildlife and people”.
Members of WDC’s Cabinet are set to approve the BAP when they meet on Wednesday April 10.
