A new long-term strategy to support nature and wildlife across Staffordshire took its first steps following a meeting of key organisations.
Led by Staffordshire County Council, the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) will set out priorities identified to aid the recovery of natural habitats and species.
Organisations including the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, National Farmers Union, local councils, the Environment Agency and the RSPB came together for the meeting this week.
Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for environment, infrastructure and climate change, Cllr Simon Tagg, said:
“It is vital that we act now to recover and protect wildlife and nature and halt the decline of biodiversity in Staffordshire, playing our part in the UK-wide effort.
“This protection and enhancement goes hand in hand with our commitment to tackle climate change. It’s been fantastic to see so many organisations represented at our inaugural LNRS event, enabling us to ensure we are on the front foot and ready to implement our strategy straight away.
“As with any strategy of this kind, the key to its success will be collaboration – developing common goals we can all get behind. There will be challenges with many competing priorities. We can only address these by working together and building understanding.
“While we wait for that guidance from central government, we wanted to start the process in Staffordshire so that we’re prepared to take this important work forward.”
Cllr Simon Tagg, Staffordshire County Council
Dave Cadman, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust’s head of nature recovery networks, said:
“The introduction of the Local Nature Recovery Strategy across the county is a positive step. It will hopefully result in more and better-connected space for nature.
“We have extensive knowledge of Staffordshire’s wildlife and wild spaces, which we will use to help develop the strategy.
“Using the Staffordshire Ecological Record’s database of maps and species information we can evidence the most valuable areas for wildlife. This will also allow us to suggest suitable places for new habitat creation and improvements for wildlife.
“We’re excited to see the strategy develop. We hope it will go some way to helping achieve wider environmental objectives, such as carbon storage and managing flood risk.”
Dave Cadman, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust
