Protecting and enhancing our natural environment

We replaced one of our old diesel vehicles with a new electric four-wheel-drive. We now have 4 new electric vehicles in our ranger team.

3,000 new trees were planted by rangers and volunteers, creating new woodland areas and restocking native species.

51 hectares of new priority habitat has been created since 2020. 

Non-native, invasive rhododendron has been replaced with native species at sites like Bucklers Forest and Englemere Pond. 

New dead hedges have been created at sites including Buckler's Forest and Lark's Hill. This recycles the green waste and reduces the amount we need to dispose of.

We have changed how we manage our grounds and verges to:

• reduce the impact of climate change
• increase biodiversity
• improve the health of trees growing on verges

Find out more on our Roadside nature reserves, meadows and verges page.

We ran a programme of free guided walks in our greenspaces during the spring and summer to engage residents in walking activities.

The walks, which are good opportunities to enjoy fresh air and exercise, were funded by the Capability Fund from the Department for Transport. This supports local transport authorities with producing cycling and walking facilities and activities.

A new green volunteering scheme, Green and Active Heroes, was launched. Find out more about this scheme from Involve Community Services.

Two new double electric charge points provided at Lily Hill Park car park off Lily Hill Road.

As our old tools become unusable, we’ve replaced them with chargeable alternatives. Our new tools which include strimmers, leaf blowers and chainsaws are more environmentally friendly, quieter, lighter and need less maintenance.

Changed to using electric vans, with new charging points installed at Westmorland Park.

By making these changes, we have already saved an estimated 5,000kg of Co2e from entering the atmosphere.

The rangers are also making good use of a new e-bike, to travel more sustainably to local green spaces.

New wildflower interpretation is available at The Greenway. This is in preparation for planned grassland improvements which will attract greater biodiversity and mean less mowing and less CO2 emissions.

We planted a mixed native hedgerow at Larks Hill. Once this is fully grown, it will give wildlife a new place to find food and shelter.

A new ‘green route’ was created that explored and linked sites around the Bullbrook Countryside Corridor. Waymarkers, fingerposts and several lecterns were provided guiding residents around the new route.

The A3095 Wild Way Project replanted areas of felled pine along the roadside with native broad-leaved species to improve biodiversity and minimise the view of the road.

Evergreen species were also planted.

Installed new photovoltaic panels to the building. This is used for the electrics in the building and the EV charging.

We planted a total of 3,880 trees in the winter of 2020 to 2021. These were a mix of native broadleaved trees and were provided across a range of different green spaces.

The Parks and Countryside team worked in partnership with the Transport Department on the A322 Downshire Way scheme.

This helped deliver environmental improvement works whilst offsetting the essential removal of trees.

We updated our Biodiversity Action Plan.

Updated the heating system, which is more cost effective, relevant to users and environmentally sustainable.

All 57 existing lamps were replaced with LED lamps.  The energy saving will be 74% when taking into account the lamp and control gear losses of the old fittings.

We published our tree strategy.

We published the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy, including requirements for Sustainable Urban Drainage systems (SUDs).

We increased the number of Suitable Alternative Natural Green Spaces (SANGs) within the borough.

This will help mitigate and reduce visits to Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and better protect their biodiversity.

We published the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) which includes climate change mitigations.
The former BAP ran from 2012 to 2017. It was reviewed at the end of its period, the 'lessons learnt' were used to produce the current plan. See update under 2018.

We published our Parks and Open Spaces Strategy, which includes climate change mitigations.

We implemented 2 Air Quality Management Areas within the borough.

We adopted a new countryside park at Peacock Meadow.