Pollinator strategy

Pollinator strategy background

The Environment Act 2021 (the Act) operates as the UK’s new framework of environmental protection. The Act enshrines some environmental protection into law.

The Act sets out the legal framework for significant reforms to local authority waste and recycling services, as well as creating new statutory duties for local authorities regarding nature recovery.

The Act strengthens the duty on public bodies to conserve and enhance biodiversity, including mandating a requirement on developers to provide a ‘net gain of biodiversity’ through the planning system, and a duty for identified Responsible Authorities (including North Northamptonshire Council) to produce a Local Nature Recovery Strategy by the end of 2023.

More specifically, in 2014 Defra produced a National Pollinator Strategy with the primary aim of expanding food, shelter and nest sites across all types of land, so that pollinator species can survive and thrive.

The policies and actions identified in our North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) strategy are underpinned by the Environment Act and the National Pollinator Strategy 2014 with the aim of delivering improvements at a local level – boosting their chances of survival and allowing them to thrive. Our actions will help achieve the five main principles identified in the National Pollinator Strategy, which are to provide:

1. more, bigger, better, joined-up, diverse and high-quality flower-rich habitats (including foodplants, nesting places and shelter) supporting pollinators.
2. healthy populations of wild pollinators and managed bees which are more resilient to threats, including, but not limited to, climate change.
3. no further extinctions of known threatened pollinator species.
4. enhanced awareness across a wide range of businesses, other organisations and the public of the essential needs of pollinators.
5. evidence of actions taken to support pollinators and pollination services.

Achieving a greener and sustainable environment is one of North Northamptonshire Council’s key commitments. The management and development of the council’s parks, open spaces and highways is a significant investment in time and money towards this commitment: it also provides enormous cross-cutting benefits, notably for health and wellbeing. Further information regarding the council’s key commitment to a ‘greener and sustainable environment’ is available at:

• North Northamptonshire Council Corporate Plan
• Northamptonshire Climate Change Strategy 2020 to 2023

The council manages a range of different wildlife habitats in its country parks, urban parks and greenspaces, woodlands, nature reserves and highways networks. There are significant opportunities to further improve these areas by implementing this strategy, particularly in urban areas.

Last updated 03 April 2024