At full council meeting on the 12 December, Tamworth Borough Council made a Nature Recovery Declaration to help tackle the climate and nature crisis.
This Nature Recovery Declaration is intended to develop and build on the work already being undertaken by the council and increase collaboration with other authorities of the Staffordshire Sustainability Board with regards to the climate and nature crisis.
The declaration will help focus on the important commitments to the environment by helping create more, bigger, better, and joined up habitats. Investing in nature recovery and nature-based solutions will also help alleviate and resolve impacts of climate change.
In making this declaration, Tamworth Borough Council are making a commitment to undertake targeted actions which make a real difference to nature locally and ensure that Tamworth Borough Council makes a positive contribution to the Local Nature Recovery Strategy and the Nature Recovery Network, by embedding nature recovery across council policy and all work areas.
Tamworth’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy will agree priorities for nature recovery and propose actions in the locations where it would make a particular contribution to achieving those priorities. It will acknowledge the principles of the 2010 Lawton report which states that more space must be given to wildlife, existing wildlife spaces must be expanded and improved and the connectivity between these spaces must be increased.
The strategy will also improve the landscape’s resilience to climate change, employing nature-based solutions to mitigate and adapt to its impacts on the borough including carbon storage and sequestration, managing flood risk, improving water quality and sustaining vital ecosystems.
A tree strategy will pursue a ‘right tree, right place’ approach, including prioritising the protection of heathland habitats, focussing on restoration and increasing ecological connectivity.
Access to nature will be improved particularly in areas with high levels of physical and mental health problems and those where the amount and quality of accessible natural greenspace is below the target set by Natural England.
Nature recovery will be embedded into all strategic plans, training will be given to councillors and employees about the ecological emergency and any future council policies conflicting with nature’s recovery will be highlighted.
Councillor Thomas Jay, Leader of Tamworth Borough Council, said: “We recognise that climate change is driving the impact on nature and taking urgent action is vital to mitigate against its effects.
“Therefore, working closely with Staffordshire Wildlife Trust we have made a Nature Recovery Declaration which has been unanimously backed by Full Council.
“We are also committed to demonstrating leadership in supporting and educating businesses, communities and the wider public to take action to put nature into recovery.
“It is a really positive step forward and will make a real difference on the ground for nature across our borough.”
Liz Peck, Advocacy and Campaigns Manager for Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, said: “There has never been a more important time to take action to tackle the ecological emergency.
“Much-loved wildlife like hedgehogs and water voles are vulnerable to extinction and we’ve lost 97 per cent of our wildflower meadows since the 1930s.
“We have worked closely with Tamworth Borough Council to develop the Nature Recovery Declaration and we’re delighted that this has been voted on unanimously.
“The declaration demonstrates that the council recognises the nature crisis and is committing to a series of vital actions to support nature’s recovery across all its areas of work.”
Notes to editors:
Nature Recovery is expected to address the 4 key principles of the Lawson Report (2010):
- There must be more space given to wildlife.
- Existing wildlife spaces must be expanded.
- The quality of existing wildlife spaces should be improved by better habitat management.
- The connectivity between wildlife spaces must be enhanced.