The Environment Act 2021 requires that all public bodies in England consider their Biodiversity Duty, including:

1. Consider what they can do to conserve and enhance biodiversity.
2. Agree policies and specific objectives based on this consideration.
3. Act to deliver the policies and achieve the objectives.

Haslemere Town Council were provided guidance on their Duty in February this year by Surrey County Council Greener Futures Team. This Team is conducting a survey to assess where each Parish and Town Council is currently at with Biodiversity. They will provide Councils with supporting documents, including a checklist to use when commenting on planning applications; policy templates; a planting project toolkit; and other general guidance and supporting resources.

Haslemere Town is ahead of this Biodiversity wave. At the Full-Council meeting in March the Council agreed to provide £5,000 of Revenue Funding towards the Haslemere Biodiversity Recovery Strategy, which Haslemere Biodiversity Group is currently putting together. Although the Town’s Neighbourhood Plan (2021) pre-dated the Environment Act is does detail Biodiversity related Policy, which can be accessed via https://haslemeretc.org/neighbourhood-plan/. 

The Town Council has plans to conduct a Biodiversity Audit of its land-holding and has agreed to promote Biodiversity actions. These have included the creation of a 750m long nature conservation wildflower verge adjacent Tilford Road in Beacon Hill, parallel to The Golden Valley, in collaboration with the National Trust, Buglife, Haslemere Biodiversity Group and local residents. This year the verge is to be cut monthly around the edges, with the central section left uncut until mid-summer.

In 2024 the verge will have the grass cut and removed in order to reduce nutrient-levels, followed by harrowing and seeding of a native meadow-flower mix in late-summer to benefit pollinating bees and butterflies as well as a host of other wildlife. The seed-mix will be provided by Buglife, as part of their Surrey B-lines project, that has been running since 2020 (https://www.buglife.org.uk/news/buglifes-b-lines-will-put-a-buzz-back-into-surreys-towns-and-countryside/). The grass-verge will be cut and collected on an annual basis by the National Trust, with a 1-2m edge of the verge cut monthly by Haslemere Town Council allowing local residents to walk around the verge. Watch-out for the Blue-Hearts installed on the verge’s road-side edge, by local residents and Haslemere Biodiversity Group and then a Community seeding-event is planned for late-summer, once the strip has been harrowed.

If you are interested to understand more about the Town Council’s Biodiversity Plans get in touch with Haslemere Town Council on admin@haslemeretc.org.

If you are interested in getting involved with helping Haslemere Biodiversity Group to set-out the Blue-Heart signs and seed the verge do contact info@haslemerebiodiversity.org.uk.