Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council announces new biodiversity strategy

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has announced the creation of a new biodiversity strategy which it hopes will establish itself as “a leading council in responding to both the climate and ecological emergencies”.

The new strategy aims to set out priorities for halting the decline in biodiversity and for restoring nature.

A borough-wide audit of biodiversity will take place to help understand where we can make a difference and the state of nature in the borough.

Planning policies being developed through the council’s Local Plan Update will help to improve protection for the natural environment, such as rivers, and ecological enhancements in the borough will also take place as part of planning permissions and respond to requirements of the Environment Act.

One of the key priorities of the new strategy will be to bring together partners across the borough in a panel, the first steps of which have already taken place at a workshop helping to guide the council’s emerging priorities for biodiversity.

The strategy will be published next spring but work to protect and enhance natural habitats to increase the borough’s biodiversity and capture carbon continues.