Since the 1930s, the UK has lost three million hectares, or 97 per cent, of its wildflower-rich grasslands – equivalent to the size of Wales.

The Environment Act 2021 recognises the extent of this biodiversity loss, requiring 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; and planting project toolkits.

Haslemere Town Council is ahead of this biodiversity wave. At the full council meeting in March it agreed to provide £5,000 of revenue funding towards a Nature Recovery Strategy, which Haslemere Biodiversity Group is currently putting together. Although the town’s Neighbourhood Plan (2021) pre-dated the Environment Act it does detail a 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 750 metre-long wildflower verge parallel to the Churt Road and Golden Valley, in collaboration with the National Trust (landowners), Buglife, Haslemere Biodiversity Group and local residents. This year the verge is to be cut regularly around the edges, with the central section left uncut until mid-summer.

The grass verge will be cut and collected on an annual basis by the National Trust
The grass verge will be cut and collected on an annual basis by the National Trust (Gareth Matthes)

In mid-summer 2024 the verge will have the grass cut and removed to reduce nutrient-levels, followed by harrowing and seeding of a native meadow-flower mix in late-summer. The seed mix will be provided by Buglife, as part of Surrey B-lines Space4Nature project (https://www.buglife.org.uk/projects/space4nature/). B-Lines are a network of insect superhighways across the UK, along which Buglife are restoring and creating a series of wildflower-rich habitat stepping stones.

The verge will boost several species of important pollinating insects
Gatekeeper butterfly (Photo: Louis Harrington-Edmans, Buglife UK) (Louis Harrington-Edmans, Buglife UK)

The grass-verge will be cut and collected on an annual basis by the National Trust, with a one to two metre edge of the verge cut 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, with a community seeding-event planned for late-summer.

If you are interested to understand more about the town council’s biodiversity plans get in touch with Haslemere Town Council on [email protected] 

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 [email protected]

By Gareth Matthes

Haslemere Biodiversity Group

Haslemere Climate and Biodiversity Collective