Biodiversity

Recognising the need to address the twin biodiversity and climate emergencies, in November 2022 Norwich City Council adopted our new Biodiversity Strategy 2022-2032 and Development Plan. Take a look at our plan on a page for a quick summary of these. This strategy and plan forms our first biodiversity “consideration” that we’re obligated to make as part of the strengthened biodiversity duty introduced by the Environment Act 2021.

Our plans were developed following extensive consultation with members of the public and key strategic partners; comments from a fully booked event at the Halls and an online consultation via Get Talking Norwich were taken on board and integrated into the final strategy, ensuring that it fully understands the needs and wants of Norwich’s residents.

The overarching aim of the strategy sets out to “Create a city where biodiversity can sustainably recover and thrive, halt species decline and increase species diversity and abundance by 2030 or sooner.”  To do this, we’ll create a nature recovery network for Norwich, which will involve creating, enhancing and connecting green spaces across the city.

However, we can’t succeed alone… A key principle of the strategy is supporting and enabling residents, community groups, and businesses to promote biodiversity in their local areas; a significant proportion of Norwich is privately owned land and so we can’t achieve our objectives without the help of everyone!

The strategy builds on an already extensive range of work from the council; from planting two thousand new trees in West Earlham Woods to the extensive work of the Norwich Fringe Project, there is already plenty going on across the city. We also manage eight Local Nature Reserves in Norwich, which provide an array of important habitats such as woodland, lowland heath, and grazing marshland. All of these sites are open to visitors.