Warwickshire County Council
Warwickshire County Council
Working across Boundaries
and Sectors
Councillor Alan Cockburn
Deputy Leader of Warwickshire
County Council
With Assistance
from Dave Lowe
Warwickshire County Council
Proud History
• In 1974 WCC established the Warwickshire
Biological Record Centre
• 5 Country Parks & 3 Greenways on 1,500 acres
accessed by over 800,000 people each year
• In 1994 Established an Ecology Unit
• Placed solar panels on its Barrack Street building
• 2014 Piloting national Biodiversity Offsetting
initiative
Warwickshire County Council
Biodiversity Duty
Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006
Section 40 Duty to conserve biodiversity
“Every public authority must, in exercising its functions, have
regard, so far as is consistent with the proper exercise of those
functions, to the purpose of conserving biodiversity.”
Warwickshire County Council
Warwickshire County Council
Biodiversity Strategy
Aims and Objectives
“To work with partners to protect and enhance existing and
future wildlife populations and habitats in Warwickshire,
within a resilient landscape”
Our Strategy to achieve this aim is to increase the amount of land
and buildings positively managed for biodiversity, averting
local extinction of species and reducing the number of species
on the danger list.
Warwickshire County Council
Biodiversity Strategy
The Council grouped the 12 Government ‘Aspects where LA’s should
integrate biodiversity’ into 6 key strands and set objectives:
Data and information – To obtain, manage, maintain and disseminate
environmental data to inform decision-making and monitor changes.
Regulation– To ensure that the Council considers biodiversity in exercising all
of its statutory regulatory functions
Management of our own Estate – To improve the management of all current
and future council owned land and buildings with regard to biodiversity.
Education and Learning – To build upon existing opportunities for both
formal and informal learning with regard to the natural world.
Community Leadership – To act as an exemplar to others in incorporating
biodiversity into strategies and within partnership working by promoting
best practice for the protection of Warwickshire’s biodiversity.
Reporting and Review – To establish and maintain an internal reporting
mechanism to inform and report on how WCC is actively considering
biodiversity.
Warwickshire County Council
Biodiversity Strategy
Warwickshire County Council
Waste Prevention / Reuse Schemes
introduced
New re-use shops installed at the HWRCs
Love Food, Hate Waste
Support to open new reuse warehouses
Home Composting/Master Composter Scheme
Master Gardener Scheme
Home Chipping service
Junk Mail
Real Nappies
Warwickshire County Council
Home Composting
Over 26,000 compost bins sold
since 2005
17% households composting
Saving over 5100 tonnes of waste
per year going to landfill
30 Master Composters trained and
active
Over 200 community events
attended
Warwickshire County Council
Trading Standards Service
Animal Health Officers attend livestock markets, farms
and shows ensuring the welfare of animals.
 provides consumer confidence in the food
 allows rural businesses to thrive and grow
Provides advice and guidance to Livestock farms
claiming Single Payment Scheme helping them comply
with cross compliance inspections.
 helps farmers with the upkeep of the countryside
 enables the community to enjoy all of its benefits.
Warwickshire County Council
Sub-regional GI Strategy
Vision
A diverse and well-managed Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull Green
Infrastructure network that underpins the quality of life for communities.
This will be the result of a well-connected, accessible and biodiversity
resilient landscape, supporting economic growth, social health and climate
change adaptation.
The strategy covers the
disciplines of
• Landscape
• Biodiversity
• Accessibility
Warwickshire County Council
Biodiversity Offsetting
The Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull sub-region
was chosen as one of the 6 national pilot areas to trial
biodiversity offsetting for 2 years. (April 2012 to March
2014).
Biodiversity offsetting is where
conservation activities deliver
biodiversity benefits in
compensation for biodiversity
loss, in a measurable way. It has
the potential to deliver effective,
widespread biodiversity gain.
Warwickshire County Council
WCC Flood Risk Management
• Flood risk management schemes seeking to work with natural
processes wherever possible.
• Looking for opportunities for biodiversity enhancement as part of flood
risk management schemes.
• Seeking to work in partnership with the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust
and Woodlands for Water project to identify mutual wins for flood risk
management and biodiversity.
• Investigating options for a catchment management pilot study working
with the Environment Agency.
• Encouraging above-the-ground sustainable drainage on new
developments.
• Working closely with the NFU to try to improve land management for
flood risk management purposes while keeping biodiversity in view
(for example, ditch clearance outside the nesting season).
Warwickshire County Council
Environmental Management
WCC is certified to the international environmental management
system standard ISO 14001 as an auditable way of reducing risks and
implementing improvements:
• Prevent pollution
• Reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill
• Reduce energy/fuel use
Examples of initiatives are:• Registration as a centre to deliver Waste Smart course
• Corporate recycling scheme in place
• Chemical-free cleaning in corporate buildings
• Solar PV on suitable buildings
• Energy efficient lighting
Warwickshire County Council
Campaign for the Farmed
Environment (CFE)
The Council has attended the Warwickshire pilot
area steering group since its inception in 2009:
The Campaign for the Farmed Environment (CFE) is
encouraging farmers and land managers across
England to protect and enhance the environmental
value of farmland, through measures that sit
alongside productive agriculture.
Warwickshire County Council
Marsh Christian Awards 2013
Promotion of Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Awarded to Warwickshire County Council for:
• Ecology Unit being proactive in Butterfly Conservation and
biological record exchange projects
• Country Parks being proactive in the Silver-washed Fritillary
Princethorpe Woodlands Project 26 breeding sites
• Highways being proactive in the SITA Small Blue project where at
Southam Bypass
• Country Parks and some WCC Farms are in
Higher Level Stewardships
• Ecology Unit involving Warks Butterfly Conservation
in planning decisions and compensation schemes
Warwickshire County Council
Marsh Christian Awards 2013
Promotion of Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
“We think that Warwickshire County Council are doing a
tremendous job, and are extremely worthy winners of this award.
We want to build upon Warwickshire's exemplar work by spreading
their good practice to other regions.”
David Dennis's
(Chair of Butterfly Conservation)
Clearance and wild
strawberry
planting, at Paget’s
Pool (Ryton)
Warwickshire County Council
High Speed Train (HS2)
• Listening to Local Action Groups and Parish Councils
• WCC to scrutinise Heritage Memorandum and Environmental
Statements being produced by HS2
• HS2 close to several Listed Buildings
• Mitigation measures required to reduce severed wildlife corridors
• WCC also Chairs the Line-wide Ecology Technical Group
Warwickshire County Council
High Speed Train (HS2)
“Features such as the use of green bridges, tunnels, ‘buffering’ habitats and
green boundary features such as hedges and trees must be included in the
design to make the design more environmentally and wildlife friendly,”
HS propose the use of retaining walls at
South Cubbington Wood; WCC is supportive
of a bored tunnel or at least a Green Tunnel
plus more “Green” Tunnels and Bridges
to increase provision of wildlife corridors
Route in typical cutting showing
Fencing and electrification
Warwickshire County Council
Local Enterprise Partnership
The LEP acknowledges the importance of the
environment in their Strategic Economic Plan:
CWLEP recognises that green infrastructure
(GI) and the historic environment play
important roles in attracting and retaining
industry and labour within the area and can
provide many other social, economic and
environmental benefits and Tourism
opportunities. The LEP will promote
sustainable development in both the existing
sites and future employment and residential
developments.
Warwickshire County Council
Working across Boundaries and
Sectors
Thank you for listening
blackthorn planting for brown
hairstreaks, at Ryton Pools