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Council Noted
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Globally biodiversity continues to decline, and England is now one
of the most nature-depleted countries in the world.
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Waltham Forest Council recognises the critical importance of nature
and its vital role in supporting healthy, resilient places for the
benefit of residents. It is no longer enough to just protect
nature; action must be taken to halt and reverse these trends and
support nature to recover.
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Residents of Waltham Forest benefit enormously from local access to
natural environments as we are surrounded by Epping Forest, Lea
Valley and Walthamstow Wetlands.
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Nature’s ecosystems regulate the impacts of extreme weather
events such as flooding and overheating and. support food growing,
benefiting people’s physical and mental wellbeing.
Council Welcomed
Waltham Forest Council’s strong track
record in responding to the depletion of nature and prioritising
nature recovery including:
·      
Our Climate Action Plan requiring us to support nature recovery.
One of the four themes in the Waltham Forest Climate Action Plan is
‘A Greener, More Resilient Borough’. The Action Plan
focuses on tackling flood risk, encouraging active lifestyles, and
reversing biodiversity loss.
·      
Mission Waltham Forest regarding nature recovery as essential to
achieving its aims of creating ‘safe, green neighbourhoods
where everyone can thrive’, making Waltham Forest ‘a
great place to live and age well’ and leading the way for a
net-zero borough with a ‘more natural, green
borough’.
·      
Establishing Walthamstow Wetlands and boosting habitat quality in
sites such as Queens Rd Cemetery, in addition to the creation of 45
new pocket parks and parklets over the last 10 years.
·      
Creation of award-winning flood resilience schemes and constructed
wetlands including at Chestnut Fields, Larkswood Playing Fields,
Rolls and Memorial Parks, and creating, and transforming local
roads into, rain gardens to capture run-off such as Forest,
Brookes, Esther and Wadley Roads.
·      
Funding and supporting local groups to undertake litter picks,
nature reclamation and nature preservation schemes for hedgehogs
and pollinators through the Wildways Project
·      
Inspiring future leaders by investing in our own innovative
environmental education service at The Hive, inspiring young people
and adults to tackle climate change, through a deeper understanding
and connection with nature.
·      
Distributing over 900 free trees and 250,000 bulbs to local
residents in the last year alone
·      
Engagement programmes such as 'Bee Friendly Streets’ to
support local residents to take local and hyper- local action
 
Waltham Forest Council needs to do more and
with nearly 25% of Waltham Forest occupied as front and rear
gardens, we need to encourage and support our residents to do more
to address the Nature Emergency.
  
Council Resolved

Declare a Nature Emergency
and redouble our efforts to secure resident support in achieving
more ‘nature positive outcomes’ across every Ward in
Waltham Forest
Call to action – convene
residents and local partners to accelerate collective action:

The Council will host public
webinars and signpost our residents to guidance to encourage local
and hyper-local nature positive actions.
The Council will convene with
external partners including City of London Corporation, Walthamstow
Wetlands, Lea Valley Park and those involved in nature recovery as
part of the ‘Waltham Forest Nature Recovery Expert
Panel’. The Panel will advise and support the Council and
residents on habitat development and the species to prioritise for
targeted recovery actions.
Reactivate the Waltham Forest
Climate Residents Panel with a key focus on the Nature
Emergency.

Mainstream nature recovery
considerations in Council decision making by:

Undertake a Local Nature Recovery
Plan ensuring positive action on nature enhancements is underpinned
by a robust evidence base.
Review Council landholdings,
including Housing and Highways land, for opportunities for more
habitat creation and restoration. Seek funding to accelerate these
work areas, including workstreams to improve the nature recovery
interventions within close proximity to residents’
homes.

Embed Nature Recovery as a
strategic priority in planning and design guidelines for new
developments:

Well planned,
inclusive growth in Waltham Forest will enhance greening and
address the nature emergency.

We will embed the GLA’s
London-wide Local Nature Recovery Strategy priorities in a new
Waltham Forest Local Nature Recovery Plan, ensuring positive action
on nature enhancements is underpinned by a robust evidence
base.
Through other planning tools like
masterplans, planning briefs, design codes, and Supplementary
Planning Documents (SPDs) we will encourage and guide developers
and residents to incorporate measures like:

                                              
i.    
Boundary permeability for wildlife corridors
                                             
ii.    
Natural water sources for wildlife
                                           
iii.    
Artificial habitat creation (bird, bat and insect
boxes) 

The emerging Green and Blue Spaces
SPD will provide an overarching framework and vision to support the
implementation of a well-connected, safe and accessible network of
nature rich green spaces across the borough.
We will continue to apply the Urban
Greening Factor to ensure nature and landscape are integral to new
developments and take a proactive approach to ensuring this is
delivered.
We will continue to implement
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements.

 
Nature recovery cannot be achieved alone. The
Council calls on our residents, communities and partners to come
together to take action in securing and embedding ‘nature
recovery’ as a cornerstone for a sustainable future for
all.