Matthew introduced the Local Climate and Nature Action Plan Toolkit, going through how and why it was developed, with an overview of what has been delivered through LCNAPs so far in South Gloucs.
Last updated
00:00 - 23:48 Presentation
23:48 - 50:33 (end) Q & A
Mar 05, 2025 11:50 AM London ID: 834 5460 8536
Andrew and Matthew discussed the ongoing discussions about the plan for the new strategic authorities in South Gloucestershire, and the potential for South Gloucestershire to merge with Gloucestershire or Bristol. Matthew presented on local nature action plans, highlighting the challenges and strategies in managing local climate and nature action plans, and the progress and benefits of the Local Climate, Nature Action Plan (LCNAP) initiative across South Gloucestershire. The meeting also covered various community nature reserve projects, concerns about the negative impact of ducks on village ponds and the challenges of replacing dying ash trees, and the initiative to make the Home Valley Parish Council's allotments organic.
Actions to be taken:
Matthew to send a list of links to Graham, including resources for Local Climate and Nature Action Plans (LCNAPs) and guidance on assessing sites from a nature perspective.
Graham to forward the links provided by Matthew to all attendees.
Matthew to speak with the tree team about guidance on replacing trees affected by diseases and climate change.
Matthew to find and share the link for the Community Nature Reserve (CNR) guidance package.
Parish and town councils to consider implementing Community Nature Reserve schemes in their areas.
Parish and town councils to explore opportunities for biodiversity net gain on their land holdings.
Parish and town councils to engage with their Local Nature Recovery Strategies to identify potential sites for biodiversity improvement.
Parish and town councils to consider conducting basic ecological assessments of their land using Matthew's suggested methods.
Claudine to explore options for obtaining affordable biodiversity audits for parish councils, including contacting local Wildlife Trusts and community ecologists.
Attendees interested in garden-related climate change actions to join next week's presentation on using gardens for climate change.
South Gloucestershire Strategic Authorities Plan
In the meeting, Andrew and Matthew discussed the ongoing discussions about the plan for the new strategic authorities in South Gloucestershire. Matthew mentioned that the only possible impact on South Gloucestershire could be if the government guidelines require a certain number of residents to be covered. They also discussed the potential for South Gloucestershire to merge with Gloucestershire or Bristol. Furthermore, Andrew shared his experience in the countryside agency and the government's closure of public paths. They also touched on their involvement in their respective parish councils and the challenges that come with them.
South Gloucestershire's Local Nature Action Plan Guide
Matthew Lipton, Commons and Biodiversity Officer at South Gloucestershire Council and parish councillor, begins his presentation on local nature action plans. South Gloucestershire has created a 30-page step-by-step guide on biodiversity and local nature action plans, which they are sharing with other counties and parishes. The guide aims to engage communities by explaining biodiversity, its importance, and how local groups can take action.
Managing Local Climate Action Plans
Matthew discussed the challenges and strategies in managing local climate and nature action plans. He emphasized the importance of understanding land holdings and budget constraints, especially for smaller councils. He also highlighted the need for effective communication with the public and addressing potential safety concerns. Matthew acknowledged that different councils have varying levels of resources and capabilities, and he urged councils to recognize these differences when planning for change. He presented a toolkit aimed at guiding smaller councils through this process. Matthew also shared his own parish's example of a local nature action plan.
LCNAP Initiative Progress and Benefits
Matthew discussed the progress and benefits of the Local Climate, Nature Action Plan (LCNAP) initiative across South Gloucestershire. He highlighted the importance of linking plans across borders and the role of the LCNAP officer, Daisy, in supporting town and parish councils. Matthew also shared examples of successful projects, such as Eco Formbury Points scheme, volunteer sessions, energy-saving measures, and the Hedgehog Heroes initiative. He emphasized the value of sharing resources, ideas, and knowledge across the region and the potential for significant environmental and climate changes when multiplied across all councils. Matthew also mentioned the need for a more permanent LCNAP officer position and the potential for bigger grant funding possibilities.
Nature Reserve Projects and Engagements
Matthew Lipton from the South Gloucs Council discussed various community nature reserve projects, emphasizing the importance of engaging public interest and managing gardens for better wildlife. He highlighted the Emerson's Green Town Council's successful project with over 150 gardens, and the challenges of finding suitable trees for small gardens. The Coir role was also mentioned as a natural material for pond areas. There was an opportunity for questions, and a guidance pack on starting community nature reserves was offered to Gary.
Ducks, Trees, and Community Engagement
In the meeting, Andrew and Madeline raised concerns about the negative impact of ducks on village ponds and the challenges of replacing dying ash trees with other species due to diseases. Matthew suggested consulting the tree team for guidance on selecting resilient tree species, and he acknowledged the difficulty of engaging local communities in gardening initiatives. Madeline shared her efforts to gather responses from local parishioners through a survey and the distribution of bee and butterfly seed bombs. Graham praised Madeline's high response rate, mentioning that it's above average in sales and marketing. Allison was reminded to share her thoughts, but the transcript did not contain her input.
Organic Allotments and Community Gardens
In the meeting, Alison discussed the initiative to make the Home Valley Parish Council's allotments organic and the challenges with pesticide usage on verges. She also explored the idea of implementing community nature gardens. Matthew suggested awarding nature-friendly gardens and engaging residents on the topic. Claudine provided a helpful link in the chat. Claire raised concerns about planning policies not being applied despite existing biodiversity policies, and Matthew explained that while LC Naps are not a planning tool, they can influence land management decisions. Andrew expressed interest in his wife's parish council engaging with the LC Nap process, and Matthew assured him that all resources are freely available on their website.
Biodiversity Net Gain Challenges
Andrew discusses biodiversity net gain and the challenges of implementing it locally. He suggests that parish councils identify sites within their own areas that could benefit from biodiversity improvements. Matthew mentions that the West of England has launched the first Local Nature Recovery Strategy in England, which could be linked to biodiversity plans. They both emphasize the importance of having a community-supported plan for engaging with local authorities and funders. Matthew also provides advice on conducting basic ecological assessments without professional expertise, suggesting simple methods like observing light pollution and wildlife access.
00:13:33 Alison Morgan: I am a Holme valley Parish councillor with a particual r interest in influencing councils about biodiversity
00:17:45 Claudine Pearson: Reacted to "I am a Holme valley ..." with 👏🏼
00:18:24 Claudine Pearson: Here is the original resource from S Glos https://beta.southglos.gov.uk/local-nature-action-plans/
00:22:15 Jenny Barna, Ditchling, Sussex: Combined Sussex web site for East, West and Brighton & Hove: https://sussexnaturerecovery.org.uk
00:42:49 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: When replacing trees that are suffering from disease, what options are there please - same species / different species?
00:51:32 Joanne, Shiplake PC, Oxon: This garden scheme seems to be a brilliant way of going forward. Would love the start up guidance if possible.
00:52:49 Andrew Clegg, Martock, Somerset: Replying to "This garden scheme s..."
So would I. We have very little Parish land
00:53:14 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: @Joanne, you may find a lot more information forthcoming from next week’s banter session, if you are able to make it?
00:53:34 Claudine Pearson: Replying to "This garden scheme s..."
this is ideal for small parish councils with no assets -
00:55:21 Ken Huggins North Dorset PC: 'River of Flowers' is a worldwide project, aims to link up areas to make it easier for pollinators to travel
00:56:41 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: Yes - stalls also at the annual parish meeting (which we should all hold), invite local conservation groups etc. Seed planting can work well through a local school
00:56:50 Joanne, Shiplake PC, Oxon: I think 18 is a great response too.
00:57:47 Jacky Lawrence, Napton, Warwickshire: Replying to "This garden scheme s..."
@Claudine Pearson Tass Smith who proposed a Warwickshire CNR at the Sustainable Wellesbourne event can no longer lead a project - do you know if there's anyone else that could lead?
00:58:16 Claudine Pearson: Try starting with "Sustainable Wellesbourne's" idea, get a speaker in to your parish council on wildlife friendly gardening and then try an open garden scheme https://www.opengardens.co.uk/open_gardens.php?id=2728
00:59:30 Claudine Pearson: A big fan of using awards and competitions - try this one! https://beefriendlytrust.org/bee-friendly-awards/
01:03:13 Claudine Pearson: Find the passion in the community (some people are bees, some are hedgehogs, some are swifts) Bridport Town is a Swift Town - https://www.commonground.org.uk/swift-towns/
01:06:58 Madeline Fraser Buckden PC (Cambs): The Woodland Trust have free trees and hedging available for community groups. We got a lot of free trees and hedging from our District Council so it might be worth asking yours if they have anything available.
01:07:46 Claudine Pearson: Warwickshire's LNRs includes LNAPS https://wcslnp.wixsite.com/localnature/lnap
01:09:12 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: Run your own BioBlitz | The Natural History Consortium https://www.bnhc.org.uk/run-your-own-bioblitz - also contact your local environmental record centre ALERC - Association of Local Environmental Records Centres - Home https://www.alerc.org.uk
01:10:57 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: Local Nature Action Plan Field Guide https://beta.southglos.gov.uk/static/bfa32f2f88ebdde3b5fada3e15d0f189/LNAP_field_guide_2022.pdf
01:11:31 Madeline Fraser Buckden PC (Cambs): https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/churchcare/advice-and-guidance-church-buildings/churchyard-wildlife many churchyards are great local nature reserves and can be managed as such
01:12:40 Madeline Fraser Buckden PC (Cambs): Also burial grounds https://www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk/
01:13:25 David Morgan-Jones: Great presentation and discussion
Our main webpage on LCNAPs – contains a list of those existing so people can see how different they are and get lots of ideas.
Local nature action plans | BETA - South Gloucestershire Council
LNAP Guidance Doc – This is the original Local Nature Action Plan Guidance Doc
Local-Nature-Action-Plans-guidance-for-town-and-parish-councils.pdf
LNAP Field Guide – This is what to do if you are struggling for specialist ecological support. Imagine you are a hedgehog or a bat.
Local Nature Action Plan Field Guide
LCNAP Guide – This is our combined Climate and Nature Action Plan Toolkit.
Local Climate and Nature Action Plan toolkit
Our social media toolkit for Hedgehogs – I think we designed it so anyone could use it.
Social media toolkit - Hedgehog awareness week 2023
Bath and North east Somerset version of the LNAP B&NES Parish and Town Nature Action Plan guidance (January 2024)
Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull version of the LNAP Warwickshire-Local-Nature-Action-Plans-guidance-for-town-and-parish-councils-DRAFT-September-2024.pdf
WEBVTT
(have snipped out the first few minutes, as they cover the time when Matthew was moving to a new location with better connectivity. We pick up where he comes in full strength)
206 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:16.389 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: And it's the full stuff.
207 00:19:18.570 --> 00:19:19.260 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Yes.
208 00:19:20.140 --> 00:19:21.390 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Full. Screen. Yeah.
209 00:19:22.220 --> 00:19:25.220 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Yes, we're still getting good. We see your notes in the next slide.
210 00:19:25.220 --> 00:19:28.310 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So. So yes, at South Gloucester Council.
211 00:19:29.310 --> 00:19:32.269 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: and I'm also a Tiverington Eastern Parish Councillor.
212 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:34.930 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Sorry, Graham. Was that okay? Or.
213 00:19:36.460 --> 00:19:46.280 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: You're still breaking up rather a lot. We can see the screen in slideshow. Well, in presentation mode and your voice is breaking up a lot.
214 00:19:54.942 --> 00:19:58.559 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Right. I'm just going to move to somewhere else in the building and see if I can get a better signal.
215 00:19:59.080 --> 00:19:59.800 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Okay.
216 00:20:02.080 --> 00:20:05.100 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Well, in that case, may I take.
217 00:20:05.100 --> 00:20:05.600 Claudine Pearson: Should I?
218 00:20:05.600 --> 00:20:07.310 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Everybody else who's arrived.
219 00:20:07.310 --> 00:20:11.288 Claudine Pearson: Yeah, I was going to say, I can talk for a little while about local nature action plans.
220 00:20:12.790 --> 00:20:13.580 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: Get away!
221 00:20:15.370 --> 00:20:18.110 Claudine Pearson: Do you want me to share my screen in the in the meantime, too.
222 00:20:18.110 --> 00:20:23.900 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Don't miss this opportunity to become center stage. They do, by all means.
223 00:20:23.900 --> 00:20:24.480 Claudine Pearson: Well, just.
224 00:20:25.170 --> 00:20:37.299 Claudine Pearson: I've spent the last couple of years looking at local nature action plans. So just to fill in for Matthew, and maybe set the scene a little bit, and I'm just still trying to remember how this arrived at my desk.
225 00:20:37.460 --> 00:20:55.929 Claudine Pearson: But it was an introduction to local nature action plan, south, Gloucester said. We've completed these, and we're happy to make the resource available to other other counties and other town and parishes. I can share my screen. If Matthew is, can I share here? Yes, I can.
226 00:20:56.900 --> 00:20:58.430 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: He's not back on yet, so.
227 00:20:58.430 --> 00:21:04.050 Claudine Pearson: You know, until he's on. I will just share this page just because I'm here at the moment.
228 00:21:04.200 --> 00:21:09.560 Claudine Pearson: Can you see my local nature Action Plan from South Gloucestershire Council.
229 00:21:09.560 --> 00:21:10.190 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Yep. Yes.
230 00:21:10.190 --> 00:21:14.030 Claudine Pearson: Yeah. So producing the guidance
231 00:21:14.780 --> 00:21:17.209 Claudine Pearson: is, I can show you here.
232 00:21:18.230 --> 00:21:37.230 Claudine Pearson: What is fantastic is that it's 30 pages. But it's a step-by-step guide explaining biodiversity for those lay people, including me. Why, it's important what it is and why it's important. But then, in terms of an engagement tool, as you can see. Then you find out about the decline.
233 00:21:37.580 --> 00:21:42.690 Claudine Pearson: But then you can say, Well, this is how we can play our part. I can see Matthew.
234 00:21:43.120 --> 00:21:46.609 Claudine Pearson: so I can stop when he gives me the nod
235 00:21:46.990 --> 00:22:06.290 Claudine Pearson: for me as somebody who goes out engaging the community. I'm saying, how can we make it easy. I think we all know within our parishes that we've got pretty much. We will have a parish or town council. There might be an in Bloom group, or there might be a gardening club. There'll be a friends of the Pta. There'll be probably a sports club. There might be a church there usually is.
236 00:22:06.770 --> 00:22:28.579 Claudine Pearson: and it's a way of mapping your community and then mopping opportunities for nature and giving you ideas, and somebody somewhere will pick something out. And even if they take one action for nature, then it's 1 more action that would have otherwise happened, and it's coordinated. Of course your Parish and town council can support with public liability insurance. So if you do undertake
237 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:42.380 Claudine Pearson: tree planting or verge clearance, then, of course, your parish council can help with public liability insurance by organizing the event, and I think I will stop now, because Matthew looks like he is installed.
238 00:22:42.380 --> 00:22:44.739 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: I try? Am I coming through nice and clear, or.
239 00:22:45.120 --> 00:22:46.200 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Much better, yes.
240 00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:47.219 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Coming through, clear.
241 00:22:47.360 --> 00:22:48.020 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Absolutely.
242 00:22:48.020 --> 00:22:52.989 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Yeah, I I've moved. I moved to the other end of the building. So let's cross our fingers
243 00:22:53.990 --> 00:22:57.099 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: and see if we can get going. Then
244 00:22:57.560 --> 00:23:02.060 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: there we go, right share screen and then
245 00:23:02.430 --> 00:23:06.340 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: start that right. Is that still coming through? Am I still clear? Can you still hear me.
246 00:23:06.340 --> 00:23:08.080 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: That's perfect. Yes, you're in great shape.
247 00:23:08.080 --> 00:23:11.190 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Lovely, fantastic. I'm so sorry about that. Everyone.
248 00:23:11.963 --> 00:23:29.110 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Right? So yes, I'll try again. So I'm Matthew Lipton. I'm the Commons and biodiversity officer at South Gloucester Council. I'm also a parish councillor as well, so I sit across both sides of the spectrum, and I've been invited today to talk to you about our local climate and nature action plans.
249 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:46.799 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So the toolkit we've produced, and the guidance for town and parish councils, and why we've why we've produced this piece of work, and how it's working, how it's functioning, what it's delivering for us in our response to the nature emergency. So just touching on, I'm sure you're all familiar. There's lots of different stages and types of councils out there
250 00:23:46.900 --> 00:24:07.260 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: from unitaries all the way down to town parish councils, Scotland, Wales. It's community councils. And it's important to understand all the different levels that those councils are involved in what they're all delivering and how to interact, that those interactions go across those different councils, and it can often certainly feel as a parish councillor
251 00:24:07.260 --> 00:24:32.630 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: that we're sometimes overlooked, missed out and lost somewhere in that clamour of communication between those different layers. So in South Gloucestershire we're lucky enough just to have the 2. Well, we've got 3 layers. We've got the Mayoral combined authority, unitary authorities, and then town and parish council layer. But most of the communications with town and Parish Council is is that unitary to town and parish council layer, but it can get a bit complicated in some areas.
252 00:24:33.234 --> 00:24:35.299 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Depending on on the the setups.
253 00:24:36.310 --> 00:25:05.250 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So what's the ideal scenario? This is this is this is what I was hoping for, and we've been working towards is change moving up from the community meeting with change, coming down from the local authority level and leading to an achievable and lasting change. And I think the achievable and lasting the really important words there, because we've got to recognize that there's different levels of capabilities and resource availability between that sort of community town and parish council level and that unitary authority level. So it's important to
254 00:25:05.420 --> 00:25:09.100 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: realize and recognize those 2 words when you're
255 00:25:09.130 --> 00:25:34.830 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: having those conversations between the different levels of local authority. Now, that is an ideal scenario. But there can be lots of blockers in there. So when you start this journey as a parish or town council, or as a local authority, it's important to be honest about those blockers. So this ideal scenario can be sort of hidden by sort of land holdings. They can be quite confusing.
256 00:25:34.830 --> 00:25:49.570 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Who owns? What is it being held for anything? Why, what if you're a parish council, and you're approaching your local authority, saying, Oh, we want to manage that bit of land better. But they say no. Well, they might be holding that land for education purposes or for future highway need.
257 00:25:49.630 --> 00:25:53.180 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So it's just a case of a no, doesn't mean
258 00:25:53.360 --> 00:26:02.349 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: they're not interested. It might mean that there's another little bit of information behind that. But equally, it's very important as a town and parish council to understand your land holdings.
259 00:26:02.550 --> 00:26:19.730 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Not all town and Parish Council have got that clearly mapped out, because you've got that constant changeover of staff. So it really is important to really knuckle down and figure out what you own, what you lease and what you're managing across your land holdings. Budgets you've got to recognize. There is
260 00:26:20.080 --> 00:26:36.069 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: these, not to get in the way. So that's where we go back to that word achievable. So so making sure that if you do come up with a plan, if you do want to do something you want to instill change at that community level. Make sure you've got the budget for it, or you can source that budget
261 00:26:37.050 --> 00:27:02.750 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: machinery. Certainly, when we're talking about managing land better for nature machinery plays a big part of that picture, the more mechanized you can be. Often the more you can do really. But equally that comes with expense, and certain machines can do certain things, certain things can't. So when, if you, approaching your bigger authorities and asking them they can cut and collect more of their land and
262 00:27:03.670 --> 00:27:10.700 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: or more of your land. If you're paying them to do it. There can be blockers in types of machinery. Local authorities have got
263 00:27:11.237 --> 00:27:15.720 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: machinery is a big investment for any authority. And it
264 00:27:16.070 --> 00:27:33.599 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: not all machining out. There is ideal for long grass, cut and collect that kind of scenario. So these things can crop up and start blocking sort of hiding the ideal scenario. Public opinion is very important, anything you're doing, as I'm sure you're aware. You need to have good
265 00:27:34.250 --> 00:27:37.580 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: good communications with your public, with your parishioners.
266 00:27:37.997 --> 00:27:41.690 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: To make sure they're on board with what you want to do, what you want to achieve.
267 00:27:42.380 --> 00:27:42.945 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: It's
268 00:27:43.670 --> 00:28:10.399 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: important to bring them along on the journey, and often we say, as part of the Lcnap process. The very 1st thing you really want to be doing is reaching out to your community, finding out what interest is in there because you may be surprised and come across some top quality. Ecologists living just down the road from you, who will be fantastically useful in developing your Lcnap, or your future plan for encouraging better nature management across your authority.
269 00:28:11.090 --> 00:28:28.040 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Safety is obviously a big thing. If you're bringing in change to how you land is managed. Safety is a big factor. Longer grass can reduce visibility longer, taller hedgerows can cause issues as well. So it's just being conscious of those things. It's looking
270 00:28:28.130 --> 00:28:57.430 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: around the change and beyond whatever those impacts that beyond it that may might occur. And and part of the reason we've developed this toolkit is we're recognizing that not all Town and Parish Council has got access to the staff resource that local authorities have. So we try to put as much of this in there as possible to help guide you through that process and avoid sort of some of those pitfalls that might come across authority. Size again is something to be be aware of
271 00:28:57.560 --> 00:29:04.119 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: bigger authorities. Maybe they've got more resources. But maybe they're slightly less interested in what's happening at the granular level
272 00:29:04.390 --> 00:29:07.539 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: could be. So so it's important to think about
273 00:29:07.670 --> 00:29:33.039 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: what the authority size is that you sit under or sit within. But equally town and parish councils can range hugely in size. Some are very, very minute, and some are actually huge, massive town councils, budgets, hugely variable staff, hugely variable resources, hugely variable, so really important to recognize. And again, that's that's achievable and lasting words coming to that authority size.
274 00:29:33.820 --> 00:29:58.149 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: And let's not forget. I think I want to recognize that most councils large, complicated machines, and they can be quite slow to turn around and shift gear in. So just being aware of that, I think these points are ones you have with the public. So you're bringing them board, because not all the public understand fully what your parish or town council does, or even what the unitary authority, local authority, county council, that kind of stuff.
275 00:29:58.430 --> 00:30:13.119 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: They don't fully understand that they, their main contact with any public authority is basically taxes and and potholes. Really. So, it's it's important to start bringing those further conversation in and increasing that understanding of your community about what you do and how you do it.
276 00:30:13.500 --> 00:30:29.380 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: and also important to recognise political entities even at the very local level. Most of the town and parish councils I've experienced aren't politically led, but there are some out there so that will maybe have an impact on where your plan goes.
277 00:30:31.459 --> 00:30:52.490 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: And again, the reason we want to push Lc naps, it's that power of community. So there's over 10,000 local councils. So over 30% of the country's perished, that's 100 over 100,000 councils. That's huge. That is power, and that is power for change, power for positive change. And remembering that
278 00:30:52.890 --> 00:30:55.869 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: combined, I think that's nearly a billion pounds
279 00:30:56.130 --> 00:31:19.220 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: budget available across those 10,000 councils. So it's a huge resource there. And there's a huge power for real positive community change across the region. Which is why we're pushing this message out that this toolkit works, and we're happy for people to adapt and change it as they get it. But the general message is there that we're enabling encouraging town and parish councils
280 00:31:19.220 --> 00:31:29.329 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: to take positive action where they can. So South loss, scenario. Just very briefly, we declared. A climate well, climate, emergency back in 2,019,
281 00:31:29.660 --> 00:31:38.419 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: and nature was sort of thrown in there, I think, on Number 4, to ensure that nature is in our more protected, connected, and healthy, and that biodiversity is increased.
282 00:31:38.720 --> 00:31:52.739 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: This obviously led to more inquiries, but more pressure on us as an authority to do more, and that caused a backlog, and we. We wanted to be able to grab hold of that enthusiasm as it was coming up from the community, and be
283 00:31:53.080 --> 00:32:09.909 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: make sure we were in a position to support it and not lose it. So we didn't want to be in that position, saying we haven't got time to look at that. We haven't got time to think about that. So we had to come up with this toolkit, this mechanism whereby we could support that very local change. And, like, I said, continue moving that position of meeting somewhere in the middle.
284 00:32:10.750 --> 00:32:30.370 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So this is where the Nature Action plans came from. So they were called Lnaps local nature action plans. But we've since brought climate into the picture as well, recognizing they're both 2 very relevant and cross-cutting themes. And essentially we produce this toolkit to help you restore nature where you live.
285 00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:50.029 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So we've got it. The local local Nature action plan. So it's got a few different things. It's got the plan there. Which is that sort of draft document that Claudine was taking us through. There's ideas to help get you started. There's supplementary information in there, and there's also an example, lnap from my own parish at the end there.
286 00:32:51.070 --> 00:33:19.429 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So in the plan itself, as Claudine touched on it, it takes you through the step by step process. And again we've tried to recognize that not everyone has access to the huge resources of big councils. So you all haven't got legal teams and property services, teams and communications teams. So we've really tried to hone all that complicated sort of infrastructure sort of organizational infrastructure that down to something that works for as many different people as possible, and it's important to remember that
287 00:33:20.090 --> 00:33:41.499 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: you don't have to go through every single step in here, but we try to set it in a step by step process. You might only just touch slightly on one of these areas, or you might really go into a lot of detail on one of these areas. It's completely down to what resources you've got available to your town or parish council. As to which of these you really go into detail on, and which you sort of skim over slightly.
288 00:33:42.960 --> 00:34:09.139 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: There's lots of project ideas in there to try and encourage people to get, and these aren't. You're not by any means stuck to these. We we've always expected this document to to evolve and grow as it spreads out across the country, and indeed I I know Claudine and colleagues in sort of added some of their own elements in there as well, which is fantastic, and and we'll we'll continue adding to it. But we just some starter projects in there which
289 00:34:09.570 --> 00:34:26.410 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: have various different sort of resource needs, if you like. So there's some really sort of intensive ones down, some very quick, hopefully easy wins. Night night talking about night pollution. There's hedgehog highways, a nice, wonderful, you know, fluffy, spiky one to get involved with
290 00:34:26.449 --> 00:34:46.260 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: walking arboretum. That was my idea of just having street tree planting, but having various different species, so you could bring the Arboretum to your community pesticide, free town and villages, that sort of a policy change. So there's some policy stuff. There's actual action. And there's lots of influencing kind of projects in there.
291 00:34:47.610 --> 00:35:11.319 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So this is South Lusher at the moment probably slightly changed, but the red ones are all signed off, so those are all the parishes that have sort of written and signed off on their plans, and then the yellow ones are ones that have committed to producing one, and are either still in draft format or nearing sign off. So you can see it's creating a picture
292 00:35:11.320 --> 00:35:21.030 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: of linking up across the region. We've got most of our county now under some kind of Lcnap initiative. It's really interesting. From from
293 00:35:21.090 --> 00:35:27.440 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: this picture you can see, there's quite a lot of bordering with each other. Certainly, Yate, chafing Sudbury Doddington. They've all
294 00:35:27.550 --> 00:35:29.779 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: off their own backs of
295 00:35:29.940 --> 00:35:54.609 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: linked their plans together to try and make sure that they're working cooperatively across those borders. So again, it's recognised, and nature doesn't recognize all these borders. These are sort of administrative, but we need our plans to link up and work across the region. But as a local authority at South Gloucester Council. We can use this, then, to seek bigger grant funding possibilities, we can use this to influence policy in our council.
296 00:35:54.660 --> 00:36:07.070 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: and we can use this to to support and engage more conversation with our town and parish councils. We've seen a change in behavior from our town and parish councils. It's more
297 00:36:07.860 --> 00:36:10.569 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: they're more accepting of of
298 00:36:10.700 --> 00:36:18.559 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: some of our bigger project proposals. So we're no longer imposing big schemes on them. We're
299 00:36:18.760 --> 00:36:30.630 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: we're sort of targeting some areas where, like the the pink areas, we know those parish town councils on board with climate, nature action. They're very possibly engaged with it. So we're sort of targeting some of our bigger changes in those areas
300 00:36:30.910 --> 00:36:45.320 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: first.st So from our perspective, it's leading to less barriers. It's leading to better support on the ground and better community support for change. But from pound, Town and Parish Council perspectives it's leading to a a firm conversation
301 00:36:45.640 --> 00:36:54.010 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: route, for with with the bigger local authority, it's it's it's enabling, it's empowering.
302 00:36:54.190 --> 00:37:21.669 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: And it's you know, you're not operating alone, because as a town or parish council. It can feel a bit lonely. But when we're having these big conversations they can see they're not alone. Their neighbors are doing something similar. Their neighbours want to work with them, and they can see the broad range of types of plans that are being produced so that there's no sort of winner if you like. We're all winners if we're all on board with the same message and the same process.
303 00:37:22.790 --> 00:37:26.549 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So this was just a little bit about some of the stuff that
304 00:37:27.390 --> 00:37:39.020 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: some of the successes, if you like, that have been going on. We we did have a local climate nature action plan, Officer, Daisy. She's not in post at the moment, but we're hoping to get that started again soon, and we're
305 00:37:39.140 --> 00:38:02.989 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: pushing that to a bit more of a permanent position. But it's been hugely successful. So for 2 years she was one day a week, and that's been absolutely massive resource for town and parish council to have someone dedicated in their local authority that they can speak to and engage with and have that dedicated channel of communication with. So it's been really really important and a big step
306 00:38:03.110 --> 00:38:08.510 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: in in taking it forward and and scaling it up, and and as an authority
307 00:38:08.790 --> 00:38:10.659 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: by investing in that position.
308 00:38:10.850 --> 00:38:21.209 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: I think it sent the message out that we value town and parish councils and their engagement on this subject. We value what they want to do, and we absolutely want to support them in taking positive action.
309 00:38:22.052 --> 00:38:40.010 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: The role really was about getting helping to get plans off the ground because I mentioned some town and parish councils are very small, only 2, you know, only only maybe 3 or 4 councillors. So they were a bit well, we don't know what to do. We haven't got the resource. So we we you know, Daisy basically wrote their plans for them. There's been.
310 00:38:40.130 --> 00:39:08.800 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: She's been gathering information from town and parish council. She's been able to share with them, doing idea, sharing and supporting joint projects. And we're looking for funding opportunities. So it's been a really important role, even just one day a week, with a massive resource for all those town and parish councils on the subject of climate, nature, and, as we all know, in this conversation, I'm sure, climate nature, there's such overbearing, massive issues, and they can be very, very frightening to engage with from that town and parish perspective. And I can say that myself as a parish councillor. It's
311 00:39:08.980 --> 00:39:13.880 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: it's a big ask at that very small level to engage with those very big issues.
312 00:39:14.910 --> 00:39:44.539 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So Farmbury Town Council they started an Eco Thornbury Point scheme. They've been doing lots of tree planting around the region. They really engaged their public on that one as well. So they got residents to vote on the species of trees which has been an interesting way to engage residents, and they've been doing a lot of mapping work looking at where their green corridors are, where their existing green spaces, where their wildflow meadows are, and they're using that to build that bigger picture, for how they want their town to develop on the nature theme.
313 00:39:44.690 --> 00:40:13.739 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Frampton Cottrell Parish Councils. This is one that Daisy is an employee of. They've been running volunteer sessions with various different groups. They've got solar panels. They've been looking at electric vehicles, electric tools for their grounds staff. They've got refill stations. They've been doing back walks, and they've been writing their own environmental policies for their Parish council. So really and again, so they've done a broad spectrum of things through their Lc. App
314 00:40:13.940 --> 00:40:32.800 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Doddington Parish Council. They've been looking at energy saving measures at their parish hall. They've been looking at solar farms working to preserve and enhance wildlife on the solar farms. They've been looking at how they cope with ash dieback, and they've got one of their big nature reserves what the meadows that they've been working on as well.
315 00:40:33.080 --> 00:40:47.270 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Yate Town Council. They've got this little video. I think it's only a minute or so. So this is quite useful. And this is again. This is display. They're they're a big council. They've got a lot resource. So they've done a really nice video. Not everyone, you know, can do these things. But it's it's just part of that showing
316 00:40:47.500 --> 00:40:50.060 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: lots of different levels of resource.
317 00:41:45.590 --> 00:41:48.140 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So you can see, it's
318 00:41:49.450 --> 00:41:52.330 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: it's great that they produce that wonderful video
319 00:41:52.420 --> 00:42:17.410 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: really engaging video for their members. But we're not expecting every town and parish council to produce something like that. Like, I say, some of the plans that we produce are literally just 2 sides of a 4 for the really small ones, and for the bigger ones. They've obviously got that time to invest in more Comms and more videos. But it doesn't mean any one plan is any worse than any other. It's it's if you're doing something like Claudine said. Even if we're just doing one thing as a parish or town council on one bit of site that you've got.
320 00:42:17.410 --> 00:42:31.859 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: that's a win. That's a massive success, and that's a step forward together, because you multiply that across the 10,000 councils across England. And suddenly you're looking at massive, massive changes for the environment and climate. So we've really been pushing joint project ideas.
321 00:42:31.860 --> 00:42:46.339 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: because we really want our neighboring parishes to work together and and also pushes us a bit if they're if they're together on some of these issues, and they're coming to us together in a cooperative fashion, with plans we can engage more easily with that.
322 00:42:46.380 --> 00:43:08.220 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: And joint projects can be very easily replicated as well, and it also helps overcome some sort of common concerns about that feeling too small, or not having enough resource. So some of the joint projects we've been pushing. This one was Hedgehog heroes, so we supplied all the signage and got all the signage signed off by Hedgehog Street, and we produced all these, and we gave them free out to the town and parish councils.
323 00:43:08.220 --> 00:43:31.699 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: and then they've been able to use those to hold events. They've got them up in very public areas, and they've been using it to engage with their communities. We produced an event, Kit. So again recognize that Town and Parish Council didn't necessarily have all the materials to be holding their installs. We've got an event, Kit, that is shared. I think it's held by Daisy still, and anyone can hire that kit free of charge any town or parish council that's running an event.
324 00:43:31.700 --> 00:43:47.050 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: and they've got a nice, relatively nice kit that comes along. So again, it's sharing those resources, sharing those ideas, sharing those knowledge and and building success across the region then. And it was also quite powerful in residents are seeing the same sign with the same branding
325 00:43:47.110 --> 00:44:11.030 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: being used across the region. So they're recognizing that actually, it's not an individual thing. It's a bigger effort across multiple parishes and towns across the region to tackle that so. And plus hedgehogs are really great fun. They're really interesting. People love them. They're really easy, wildlife. Item, to engage your public with
326 00:44:11.970 --> 00:44:35.660 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: this one's taking off great guns at the moment. This is community nature reserve. Cnrs. So this is about getting people to manage their gardens better for nature. Emerson's Green Town Council here have done a massive one. I think they've got over 150 gardens in there. Now we've got 2 others starting, and we've got a 3rd one another 4.th One sorry. Former town council have just been in touch that they want to start a Cnr as well. And really this is again.
327 00:44:35.890 --> 00:44:36.920 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: it's very.
328 00:44:37.040 --> 00:44:44.001 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: This is a very cheap mechanism for any town Parish Council to get nature changed, because if if you haven't got a big land holding
329 00:44:44.890 --> 00:45:04.630 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: you can bet your bottom dollar there's lots of gardens in your area. So if you can work with your residents, engage with them and encourage them to manage those gardens better for nature. Then you're getting nature benefit. You're getting nature change. You're getting. Nature wins in your area, even if you haven't got massive land holdings. So it's a really really great one for those without land holdings
330 00:45:05.890 --> 00:45:12.189 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: and tree planting generally. So again, this is all about collaborating with residents, getting trees into those gardens.
331 00:45:12.230 --> 00:45:32.249 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: The challenges often turn out to be finding enough trees. But also you've got to be careful about that right size tree for right size garden, so you shouldn't necessarily be handing out lots of oak trees for everyone with small 5 by 5 gardens. But it's a great example of engaging with the public. I think most parish town councils do these projects through free tree giveaways.
332 00:45:32.250 --> 00:45:49.999 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: And then the Council is there. We've counting out the trees, and they're having those conversations about nature. People are taking photos of their trees once they've planted and put it on Facebook and sharing it. And it's starting those conversations and starting those nice friendly engagement methods. Very, very low resource with with the, with the residents.
333 00:45:50.780 --> 00:45:57.000 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So there's some example. Lc, naps out there on the website. We've got most of them listed on on that page.
334 00:45:57.410 --> 00:46:03.789 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: I we can. I can send a link around to that or have a look through our South Coast Council website.
335 00:46:04.080 --> 00:46:17.360 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: But they they're all out there. And I said. There's huge variance between them all, because it's all huge, hugely variable on what the level of interest is, what the resources available are and and what engagement they've had with with their residents.
336 00:46:17.957 --> 00:46:21.299 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: But no plan is the wrong plan.
337 00:46:21.640 --> 00:46:34.810 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: no matter how small or or or singular any of the projects are. It's still a step in the right direction, and it still means as a region. We're all slowly meeting somewhere in the middle of having a great place. That's nature rich.
338 00:46:35.410 --> 00:46:43.930 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So that has been me, Matthew Lipton. If you want to reach out, I'm at nature@southcloss.gov.uk, but I think there might be an opportunity for some questions. Now.
339 00:46:46.290 --> 00:46:59.060 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Matthew. Thank you so much. I thought that was eye-opening, just to show how you can start the bandwagon rolling, and then, as you say, by the time it's become countrywide, it really is a force to be reckoned with.
340 00:46:59.180 --> 00:47:10.380 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: so really appreciated that I came up with a quick question myself, which is one of your slides, mentioned the choir role looking after the swans, I think. What does a choir or a choir role.
341 00:47:10.951 --> 00:47:17.240 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Yeah, that's basically, they're tightly wrapped up coia from coconuts.
342 00:47:17.675 --> 00:47:20.930 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: And I think they use them as float means of
343 00:47:21.240 --> 00:47:31.369 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: getting greenery into pond areas. They can use it to hold banks together because it's a natural material. It just gradually breaks down, it will perform its function and gradually just break down naturally.
344 00:47:31.370 --> 00:47:39.929 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Well, Andrew is look! Oh! Andrew stopped, looking to start. The ball rolling would mention, there's a question from Andrew in the chat.
345 00:47:40.100 --> 00:47:43.639 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: In the meantime the person with his hand up 1st now is Gary.
346 00:47:47.450 --> 00:47:51.370 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Hi, Matthew, thank you. That was really interesting. Lots of very interesting.
347 00:47:51.600 --> 00:47:57.720 Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: Projects. The one I'm particularly interested in is the Emerson screen one you mentioned at the end. There.
348 00:47:57.820 --> 00:48:04.234 Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: Perhaps you can tell us a little bit more about the process, and what they're actually doing with with engaging with
349 00:48:05.184 --> 00:48:12.979 Garry Ford - Corsham Town Council: residents, with gardens and stuff, and what the residents with gardens are are committing to to be part of this this scheme.
350 00:48:13.510 --> 00:48:43.130 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Yeah, certainly. So that one again, it can be any levels that you want to do. We've we've done 3 in South Lost. We've done, one led by the town council, but supported by us initially, as in we, we sent out the note the letters to all the residents saying, This is happening. There's 1 we set some volunteers up who are running one, and we're also working with our local Wildlife Trust, who we've engaged to run a Cnr. For us. And in a very basic form, it's about recognizing we simply didn't have enough land to change ourselves.
351 00:48:43.160 --> 00:48:50.560 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: But all those garden spaces are really important. So we've been trying to encourage residents to
352 00:48:50.660 --> 00:49:07.360 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: manage them slightly differently. Even if it's just putting one fruit tree in there, it might be putting a pond in. It might be changing how they manage the grass. So there was one resident when they were contacted. They've ripped up their astroturf, and they've replaced it with clover lawn. So so their front lawn. They weren't doing anything with it, which is why they had an Astroturf down.
353 00:49:08.210 --> 00:49:11.470 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: and they had some conversations. They realized how awful Astroturf was.
354 00:49:11.580 --> 00:49:32.899 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: They've just ripped it up and they've put a clover lawn down. So that's been a huge success, and they've photographed it. And they proudly put that on the local village Facebook page keeping it simple. We've just been using Google, my maps and people can map their garden on there. I think they can put a certain amount of detail in what they're doing
355 00:49:33.790 --> 00:49:56.639 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: as Emerson's Green Council. They came up with a little sort of application form, if you like, and it stated, you know where you are, what you've got in there, that for nature at the moment, and what you might want to do or what you will do, and anyone making that commitment they produce some stickers like. So they've got some window stickers that they were handing out again very cheap, but everyone likes something to show they're doing their bit
356 00:49:57.080 --> 00:50:07.530 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: and people can just put that there. And they're part of the Emerson's green community nature reserve sticker. We did produce a guidance pack on starting Cnrs. So I'll
357 00:50:07.620 --> 00:50:20.510 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: I'll see if I can find the link for that, and I'll send that to Graham to send round if that's all right, because we have we? We've been asked a few times for how do we do it? So we have got a guidance package for that. Gary, which we can send around hopefully. That is that right? Yeah.
358 00:50:22.430 --> 00:50:52.310 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Gary for all the others who are interested with rather more genius than I realized I had I booked next week's speaker is from climate change gardening, which is telling you all what you can do in your local gardens, your own gardens to improve matters for the world. So, genius timing, I've got 2 hands up, and I also see Alison is holding hers up, so we haven't forgotten you, Alison. We'll get to you after we talk to Andrew, and then Madeline.
359 00:50:52.760 --> 00:50:53.380 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: Right.
360 00:50:53.757 --> 00:51:13.720 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: Just quickly, when I've seen various children's books have this lovely picture of the village pond, with all these sort of irises and lovely greenery and ducks floating in it. And the truth of the matter is, ducks actually destroy village ponds. So it's interesting that you know there are times where, you know, you do need to sort of replace the and support the
361 00:51:13.740 --> 00:51:34.150 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: the greenery in those ponds, because the ducks themselves will absolutely destroy them. Yeah. My question was Matthew. In terms of you meant there was something. There was a mass Dieback disease going on. I know that some. Some. These tree diseases are insect born, and some of them are sort of fungus born.
362 00:51:35.690 --> 00:51:55.210 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: I mean, I imagine there might be a difficulty in replacing an ash that's died back with another ash. Is there any guidance or wisdom in terms of various trees? Have got various different diseases. Is there guidance anywhere? Then, if you've got a problem with this kind of tree, there are diseases for fir, tree them, and disease for beaches and oak.
363 00:51:55.390 --> 00:52:02.039 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: Any guidance or ideas anywhere about. How that is approached might be a tricky question.
364 00:52:02.640 --> 00:52:03.450 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: Actually, with.
365 00:52:04.010 --> 00:52:12.540 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Can speak to the Treaty mine know we've got as a South Gloss authority. We've got a a percentage mix of non natives
366 00:52:12.810 --> 00:52:16.060 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: that we're putting in to replace ash with.
367 00:52:16.210 --> 00:52:41.460 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So we're trying to build in climate resilience because we're recognizing there's probably more diseases on the way. And also, as our climate changes. Many of our native species probably won't survive. So you know, we've been frantically planting native trees, left, right and center. Good chance. Many of them will be dead within 50 years, because the climate will have changed. Possibly so much. So we're really starting to have a good hard thing about actually increasing the percentage of non-natives we plant
368 00:52:41.520 --> 00:53:02.389 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: recognizing it's lovely planting oaks and beach and all those kind of things. But there's a real chance that if the climate does go the way it's predicted to. They won't survive that that long number time. So we're starting to rethink slightly what we do put out there. But I can. I can speak to the tree team and see. I know there was. There was some guidance from Kew Gardens not long ago about sort of
369 00:53:02.680 --> 00:53:11.240 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: what species they expect to survive in our future climate, and and whether or not to start introducing some of those ones. But I can see if the tree team have got something on that, Andrew.
370 00:53:11.454 --> 00:53:20.909 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: Thanks so much, any, any advice like that, and I'd be very happy to spread. Spread it around the world. Yeah, in my village you mentioned. So it's actually planted banana tree. But I don't think they get any fruit of it here. Okay.
371 00:53:20.910 --> 00:53:21.469 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Sure, sure.
372 00:53:21.470 --> 00:53:21.975 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Okay.
373 00:53:22.820 --> 00:53:26.560 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Thanks, Andrew Madeleine, would you like to have a go? Please.
374 00:53:27.540 --> 00:53:42.779 Madeline Fraser Buckden PC (Cambs): Yeah, thank you. I found the garden as nature reserves very interesting, because that's something that I'm just trying to set up. Didn't realize all this was available. So it's going to be really useful.
375 00:53:43.865 --> 00:53:44.819 Madeline Fraser Buckden PC (Cambs): I've
376 00:53:45.250 --> 00:54:11.302 Madeline Fraser Buckden PC (Cambs): I've done a Google Forms Survey and just asked my local parish parishioners to fill it in, if they will, to let me know what they're doing in their gardens. It's just a basically, it's a tick list. So so I mean, you know, some great minds think alike. Fool seldom differ. I think it's it. It's very useful. But
377 00:54:12.580 --> 00:54:17.340 Madeline Fraser Buckden PC (Cambs): the biggest issue is trying to get is trying to get people engaged. So
378 00:54:17.820 --> 00:54:26.109 Madeline Fraser Buckden PC (Cambs): that's at the moment, you know, we've got a parish with what 1,500 households in it, and I've had about 18 replies.
379 00:54:26.726 --> 00:54:39.370 Madeline Fraser Buckden PC (Cambs): So that that bit I'm I'm finding harder. So are there any other quick fixes that that you're that have happened in your area that have helped Matthew.
380 00:54:40.324 --> 00:54:46.100 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: A quick fix on engagement, I think, going the same sentence, really. But yeah, right?
381 00:54:46.100 --> 00:54:52.430 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: I feel your pain, Madeline, definitely, because it's it's a it's a hard one, especially at local level, trying to engage ready
382 00:54:52.550 --> 00:54:54.935 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: locally. But it's
383 00:54:55.790 --> 00:55:04.400 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: the the main. The main benefit for us has been having that officer time dedicated to to pushing Lc. Naps and supporting down the parish councils.
384 00:55:04.620 --> 00:55:09.439 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: I think the the only other routes really that other people have found successful are
385 00:55:11.360 --> 00:55:22.569 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: town and parish councils, having stalls at community events which they might ordinarily not have done. They've been quite low. Cost means for them to engage with the parishion. So like May Day, we have a May Day celebration in Parish Council.
386 00:55:22.690 --> 00:55:41.759 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Big Fair, in the center of the village, very, very popular. We've never really put down a parish. We never put there as a parish council, but we did a few years ago, and it was really well, we were well visited, and people came and spoke to the councillors. So so that's quite a simple method, but relatively low cost. But
387 00:55:41.870 --> 00:55:48.159 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: it's yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a. It's a tough one, really trying to get levels of interest up.
388 00:55:48.490 --> 00:55:51.749 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: I haven't really got any quick fixes. Madeleine. Sorry.
389 00:55:51.750 --> 00:56:16.839 Madeline Fraser Buckden PC (Cambs): Now we've we've I'm trying at the moment, and the reason for the survey is tacked onto a do you want some bee or butterfly seed bombs which we're giving away free. You know the Parish Council are going to give away free, and we did hope that that might might help. But it doesn't seem to to have done as I say at the moment. We haven't had a great deal of interest, but anyway, I'll carry on. But thank you.
390 00:56:17.399 --> 00:56:17.830 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Yeah.
391 00:56:17.830 --> 00:56:29.720 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: yeah, yeah, keep. Keep. Perseverance is the key, and and don't don't don't feel lost. If there's not that, you know, the 18 people is still a win, and that's still a really positive game, and those 18 people will probably talk talking to their neighbors.
392 00:56:30.172 --> 00:56:39.609 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So you might gradually get a bit more interest through. So so it's still a really positive win there, Madeline, and and doff my hat to you for your efforts so far, really, really keep going.
393 00:56:40.030 --> 00:56:40.490 Madeline Fraser Buckden PC (Cambs): Hmm.
394 00:56:40.490 --> 00:56:52.214 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Madeline, anyone who's in sales and marketing will tell you that a greater than 1% reply rate is above average, and you are well above 1%. So well done just to cheer you up.
395 00:56:53.330 --> 00:56:56.030 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Haven't forgotten Alison. It's your turn now, please.
396 00:57:01.430 --> 00:57:02.090 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: and.
397 00:57:02.090 --> 00:57:07.108 Alison Morgan: Sorry. Yes, turn myself on my question was actually
398 00:57:07.850 --> 00:57:19.889 Alison Morgan: It's linked to the garden scheme, actually, but it's linked to green initiatives. How much do you within the community garden garden scheme? Talk about pesticides and herbicides.
399 00:57:22.800 --> 00:57:46.799 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: I think that's a strong frontrunner in in those community nature reserves is that's a very simple win in itself. It's just someone signing up and saying, My garden is is going, or is chemical, free? And we really highlight. That that itself is a is a step that someone can take and just make that commitment not to use any chemicals in their garden. So so that is probably one of the front running themes in there definitely.
400 00:57:47.060 --> 00:58:01.069 Alison Morgan: Yeah. So in Home Valley Parish Council, we've just managed to get because of our biodiversity policy. The small amount of allotments that we own are going to be organic in the tenancy agreement will go out with. Don't spray.
401 00:58:01.980 --> 00:58:07.760 Alison Morgan: It still doesn't help us with verges and whatnot, because that's the curtly's
402 00:58:07.760 --> 00:58:09.140 Alison Morgan: yeah, that's a that's a difficult
403 00:58:09.140 --> 00:58:31.800 Alison Morgan: made a point. And then, when I saw your about community nature gardens, I thought, that is another way to attack that problem. We're going to have an open garden scheme in the village where I live, and that talking to your listening to your speaker. That could be a way of engaging people as well, isn't it, that people come to a garden? And then you have the conversation? Yeah.
404 00:58:31.910 --> 00:58:43.070 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: You could do, you could do an award for the most nature. Friendly garden which might be a nice, you know. Nice thing to to, you know who's got the most nature friendly garden. Who wants? He wants a free hedgehog box, or something.
405 00:58:43.070 --> 00:58:48.370 Alison Morgan: Or do you like this nature? Friendly garden? Why don't you make yours a nature? Friendly garden? Yeah, yeah.
406 00:58:48.510 --> 00:59:09.879 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Yeah. And then there's a lot of cases. As I mentioned the one with the Astroturf. There's a lot of front gardens out there which are just not being used. And they're not, they just they just exist. And so even if we just encourage, there's a lot where my kids going to be? Or what about me, dog? Or what about this I was like? Well, are you actually using that space? If you're mowing every 5 min, it's a nightmare. I hate going out with the mower.
407 00:59:09.930 --> 00:59:20.619 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: and it's just if we can get the scope. But if you're not using it, turn into this, and it's a lot less. I think. They planted the clover lawn. So that's just next to nothing, really. So. But yeah, definitely.
408 00:59:20.620 --> 00:59:25.980 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Addison. You might want to have a look at the chat where Claudine's left you a link to help out.
409 00:59:26.350 --> 00:59:27.719 Alison Morgan: Okay. Thank you.
410 00:59:27.720 --> 00:59:37.979 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: And we'll move on to Claire. I'm assuming, Madeline, that your hand is up because you've forgotten to take it down, but we'll come back to you if you have another question. In the meantime it's Claire's turn. Please.
411 00:59:40.800 --> 00:59:54.200 Claire Deruty: Hi, I was wondering. in the cases where you've been successful, Matthew, what links or relationship there is with planning policies
412 00:59:54.320 --> 01:00:06.779 Claire Deruty: because we're finding in our area that when land is being developed, all these considerations are firmly shoved to the bottom of the pile.
413 01:00:07.020 --> 01:00:11.409 Claire Deruty: and even though our local authority has got
414 01:00:12.282 --> 01:00:24.107 Claire Deruty: lovely policies when you read them regarding the nature, emergency, and biodiversity, and all of that, they never seem to be applied. So how do you manage to?
415 01:00:24.670 --> 01:00:31.140 Claire Deruty: Does planning in your area support all these aspirations and all these successes.
416 01:00:32.262 --> 01:00:41.929 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: It's it's that's yeah. Probably I would have to say, be honest, it's not the level of sports, not there, but from the very start. These have always been about
417 01:00:42.160 --> 01:00:53.029 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: town and parish councils and their land holdings and their residents land holdings. So in theory, those land holdings wouldn't fall into the planning system. They'd be a a consideration. But
418 01:00:53.860 --> 01:01:07.429 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: The more Town and Power Council manage their land better for nature, the more chance they can get other designations on them, such as Snci, so site, nature, conservation, interest, or or local nature reserve status, that kind of stuff which then brings them into that planning realm.
419 01:01:08.415 --> 01:01:10.839 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: But it's it's always been.
420 01:01:11.100 --> 01:01:17.780 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Recognize. This is this is not a, it's not a planning tool. It's it's just, it's it's more of a
421 01:01:18.730 --> 01:01:21.104 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: land just changing those land management.
422 01:01:21.810 --> 01:01:22.969 Claire Deruty: Yes, yes, sir.
423 01:01:22.970 --> 01:01:23.329 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Kind of her.
424 01:01:23.330 --> 01:01:47.010 Claire Deruty: That I understand. But from the point of view of housing, development and things that do happen, what we're finding out is that new development, if you look at them from a nature perspective, are just deserts, and even though the policies are on the books, they really do not get applied, and what what actually drives the development is just numbers.
425 01:01:48.690 --> 01:02:03.139 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: There's a point to raise, Claire, that under the new rules the big developments are required to maintain the biodiversity net gain, and that ought to be something they can work with you hand in hand. As to where all this net gain going to come from.
426 01:02:03.980 --> 01:02:04.680 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: because they.
427 01:02:04.680 --> 01:02:09.900 Claire Deruty: Yes, they often set the net gain to be elsewhere from where the development actually is
428 01:02:09.900 --> 01:02:13.639 Claire Deruty: like the play provision, and all the other good things that they've been required to provide.
429 01:02:13.800 --> 01:02:14.240 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Yeah.
430 01:02:14.240 --> 01:02:14.730 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Yeah.
431 01:02:14.730 --> 01:02:20.909 Claire Deruty: Good luck. Thank you, Andrew, please. I will come to you, David, after Andrew, if we may.
432 01:02:24.410 --> 01:02:25.630 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: Oh, okay.
433 01:02:26.030 --> 01:02:28.240 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: David did have his hand up first.st
434 01:02:28.430 --> 01:02:31.959 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Well, you wanna switch to him, then switch to David. Then out of courtesy.
435 01:02:32.570 --> 01:02:57.439 David Blackmore: Hi! Yes, I'm sorry I was late joining, and so missed the introduction. But I'm here on behalf of my wife, who's chair of our local parish council in Buckinghamshire, and I was just going to ask if they do want to engage with this whole process that you've outlined. Are these resources, the toolkit readily available in her situation.
436 01:02:58.010 --> 01:03:07.909 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Yeah, yeah, they're they're all available on on our website. I'll I'll again. I'll send a big list of links around to Graham, and then he can forward them around to to everyone. They're all freely available there.
437 01:03:08.459 --> 01:03:23.630 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: And I put my email address there at the end because I'd love to hear back from any town and parish councils or authorities that are launching Lcnaps, or if they need help, to engage with their bigger local authority. If I've got capacity. I'm happy to try and
438 01:03:23.800 --> 01:03:25.939 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: have those conversations and and
439 01:03:26.330 --> 01:03:30.630 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: help instigate change where you ask. But yeah, all the resources are there available. David.
440 01:03:30.630 --> 01:03:31.610 David Blackmore: Right. Thank you.
441 01:03:31.610 --> 01:03:49.529 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: David. Just so, you know. Everything that we do on these sessions is recorded, and then we publish it afterwards on the wiki and all the facilities are available there. So all the links in the chat, all the documents that Matthew is referring to would all be downloadable from the wiki.
442 01:03:49.990 --> 01:03:50.770 David Blackmore: Right.
443 01:03:51.050 --> 01:03:52.240 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Andrew Peace.
444 01:03:52.630 --> 01:04:08.860 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: Hi, talking bit a bit more about biodiversity net gain, which something. I've spent a bit of time on the issue of people saying, oh, sorry. Well, sorry. Gov, we can't give you increased biodiversity on our site, because we're going to cover it with Tormac or whatever
445 01:04:08.880 --> 01:04:36.969 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: parish councils are very legitimately concerned about that. We don't have any final say sadly at the moment in terms of the biodiversity plans. But we can put our shoulders together, looking around at our own areas, and some of some parish have really done their own sort of biodiversity. Audit. Where? Where is it in our parish, whether it's on a housing development summit or not. That actually could do with a bit of a boost in terms of biodiversity.
446 01:04:37.170 --> 01:05:02.630 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: So we can identify those sites so rather than people having developers saying, Oh, we'll give you your biodiversity, but it's miles away, which also makes it very difficult for planning officers to monitor. Let's try and get as many as much as possible in our own parish. Yes, we're all looking at more housing proposals coming down the road at us. People are buying up fields because they think they can make some money in this under this current regimes and build more houses on it, slightly depressing.
447 01:05:02.760 --> 01:05:27.789 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: But the other thing we've been advised by friends and defra is that the nature, local nature recovery strategies which are being developed at the moment at County Council level. I'm not sure whether that means that South Gloucestershire having one as well, but their concept was that the supply of sites, for you know, off-site biodiversity improvement would be coming through those strategies.
448 01:05:28.140 --> 01:05:33.459 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: So once we've got ideas of places in our parish that could do with that help.
449 01:05:33.570 --> 01:06:01.179 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: and we can certainly tell our planning authorities about it. But the steer we've had is, get it into the people who are doing your local nature recovery strategy. You know the county based strategy for your area, and so that it gets established in there. Really, it's I mean this also. I'd say this to people if they want anything else out of planning game. Go get your ideas first.st But there is apparently a mechanism doing it through those emerging strategies. I don't know if Matthew.
450 01:06:01.180 --> 01:06:01.999 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: We've we've
451 01:06:02.590 --> 01:06:03.510 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: Stop that. Yeah.
452 01:06:03.510 --> 01:06:09.420 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Yeah. Well, just say, yeah, that we've we've actually launched the 1st lrs in in England in our region.
453 01:06:09.970 --> 01:06:13.080 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So the the west of England. Local nature, recovery, strategy.
454 01:06:16.611 --> 01:06:25.568 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: So it was the 1st one in the country. And so that is, that is active. But I I think we have. We are trying to
455 01:06:26.110 --> 01:06:52.730 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: link the Lcnap stuff with that as well. So I think it has been mentioned in that. Actually, I can't remember. I know it's getting. It's getting mentioned now it's it's there. And now town and parish are doing it. It's getting mentioned in these documents and things as a thing. But you're quite right. Town and parish councils do own land, and they could potentially be Bng holders for nature to really keep it right on the doorstep. I know. I think it possibly is Baines where they surveyed.
456 01:06:52.880 --> 01:07:10.830 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: They did a shout out to all the talent, and said, Do any of you want to put your lamp forward at Bng off Site provision, and I think some of some of them have done that. So so there are different different routes. Possibly it's still very early days with Bng, and how it's actually going to function properly. There's a lot of trouble about getting responsible bodies in place. All that kind of stuff.
457 01:07:11.020 --> 01:07:30.059 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: but it's definitely an option. But the real power here is like you said, if you, as a town or parish council have a plan. Everyone likes to engage with a plan. Grant funders like to engage for a plan. Your local authority likes to engage with your plan. Your ward councils like to engage with a plan. If there's a plan there that's signed off and held by your town and parish council and held by your community.
458 01:07:30.330 --> 01:07:37.840 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: That's so much more powerful than you just sitting there going to don't like this or want this over there. A plan is really does pay dividends.
459 01:07:41.040 --> 01:07:47.709 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Wonderful advice, Matthew, thank you. Could I just check to see if anyone else has a question? Don't see any hands raised.
460 01:07:47.900 --> 01:07:49.949 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Well, Claudine, off you go.
461 01:07:51.461 --> 01:08:06.429 Claudine Pearson: It was just to say that I do have some parish councils, parish and town councils with land are struggling to get biodiversity audits. They just don't know where to start. What would be your recommendation, who to speak to? And of course they want it for free.
462 01:08:08.370 --> 01:08:09.410 Claudine Pearson: But.
463 01:08:09.718 --> 01:08:26.691 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: It. That's a challenge definitely. Yeah. So I mean, speak to local Wildlife Trust and see if they are. One did have a scheme running for a while would hit it. A community ecologist so you could get free advice. Do a shout, Jewish. But I think that's obviously why they had the funding.
464 01:08:27.640 --> 01:08:33.669 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: best do a shout out like I said to to your community, because there may well be an ecologist living down the road who is quite happy to help.
465 01:08:33.819 --> 01:08:36.179 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: But unfortunately, some of these things just
466 01:08:37.270 --> 01:08:55.029 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: will have to be. The money will have to be found to pay for them. But it's I it's making sure you get what you need, I think is the most important thing, because all singing or dancing management plan, which require all different service. They can cost thousands of pounds if you just need an ecological survey for a site.
467 01:08:55.708 --> 01:08:59.471 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: And it's very basic. You can use the
468 01:09:00.080 --> 01:09:03.950 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: you could just go out and do a bio blitz trying to organize a bio blitz in in that area.
469 01:09:04.069 --> 01:09:08.869 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: And that's that's that's using the power of system and science to build up the picture of what's there.
470 01:09:09.020 --> 01:09:28.759 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: We've done a guide again. I'll send the link for how you might sort of assess a site from a nature perspective, because we recognize not everyone's an ecologist and not everyone's got money for an ecologist. But this was a very simple one whereby, you know, it was simple things like, go and visit your site at night time and see where the light pollution is, and then you know whether or not to do anything about light pollution, because
471 01:09:28.760 --> 01:09:40.220 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: you don't need an ecologist to know that. Go and visit your site and see where the blockers are. So if it's a green space, and it's backed by an entire street of gardens, but not what single one's got a hole in the fence for hedgehogs
472 01:09:40.220 --> 01:09:54.219 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: again, you don't need an ecologist to know there's a problem there. So there's very simple things you can do as a community is. Yeah, I think people think they've got to go out and be able to identify every blade of grass and every insect that's crawling across it. We don't need to.
473 01:09:54.350 --> 01:10:01.670 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: That very broadest stretch. You just need to look at it from a wildlife perspective and go. Could I live on here? Could I survive here?
474 01:10:01.860 --> 01:10:30.320 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: I can't, because it's surrounded by that road, and that's really fast road. I'm going to die if I cross it. There's all that light pollution going in there. So as a bird I'm going to be. My nest is going to be disturbed, or as a small hedgehog, I can't get in and out of this site because it's stepped and walled. So there's lots of things you can do as a person with very little ecological knowledge, and I've tried to put that in that other guide. I think it's the Lcnap Field Guide. I think I've called it so again. I'll find that link for that. But that's it's so powerful that
475 01:10:30.420 --> 01:10:45.870 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: you've just got to go out there and think like an insect, or think like a hedgehog, which I think anyone really can do. So you can get some really good basic ecological knowledge without necessarily having an ecological degree, I think, is an important message to get out there, Claudine.
476 01:10:46.750 --> 01:10:50.780 Claudine Pearson: Okay, I'm still thinking about a former football field that used to be a tip.
477 01:10:51.637 --> 01:10:56.510 Claudine Pearson: What to do with that world's your oyster. But these.
478 01:10:56.510 --> 01:10:57.000 Claudine Pearson: Yeah, yeah.
479 01:10:57.000 --> 01:11:11.879 Claudine Pearson: of examples of parish and town councils across our patch, suddenly thinking, Aha! We have an asset. What are opportunities? But of course, that requires sometimes an expert eye and different expert eyes, you know.
480 01:11:11.880 --> 01:11:12.550 Claudine Pearson: See any.
481 01:11:12.550 --> 01:11:15.630 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: You know what are, what are the options? And that's it's like.
482 01:11:15.630 --> 01:11:22.139 Claudine Pearson: A challenge to work out on no resources. So thank you.
483 01:11:22.140 --> 01:11:37.869 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: But even like if it stays solar, you know, if you've got a village hall, you want to put solar panels on it. Most companies will do a free quote, you know again, you don't need to be an expert, but for most most companies will do a free quote and and give you a reasonable assessment on that. And if you think there's 10,000 parish count
484 01:11:37.870 --> 01:11:55.779 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: walls up and down the country, God! If we got solar on every single one of them what boon that would be. So there are some simple wins. But I appreciate what you're saying. If you're going to go to a site and do something really complicated or really upscale. Something then. Yes, but that will be part of your process. Do what you can, for now, within that falli within that resource.
485 01:11:55.890 --> 01:12:03.439 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: But if you're getting really ambitious and want to be very ambitious, then, yeah, you're gonna have to step, find those, some some resources to to get some of those that professional
486 01:12:03.600 --> 01:12:05.170 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: support on it definitely.
487 01:12:05.970 --> 01:12:29.489 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Just to give some context. Claudine. In Somerset we have a parish of 550 houses. We hired a guy from the Somerset Wildlife Trust for 350 pounds. And they did go around and do exactly what Matthew said. The sort of this is what you could do with this land. This is what you are doing, this land. Who are the landowners? And we generally felt it was a really well spent 350 quid. So
488 01:12:29.880 --> 01:12:32.030 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: just to give people a clue.
489 01:12:32.210 --> 01:12:33.100 Claudine Pearson: Perfect. Thank you.
490 01:12:33.100 --> 01:12:33.740 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: And then
491 01:12:33.840 --> 01:12:48.279 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: and may I say thank you to everybody who's put hints into the the chat. I was going to tell you that if you go onto the wiki and do Bio Blitz, Claudine, you can find out exactly how to do a bio blitz. But Andrew has beaten me to it and put in there.
492 01:12:48.400 --> 01:13:00.649 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: And just to close with the comment that you've mentioned how you could have people as bees, hedgehogs, or swift. It's the 1st time I've realized that my wife is a hedgehog. But thank you very much.
493 01:13:01.990 --> 01:13:03.619 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: I'll tell her you said that.
494 01:13:03.620 --> 01:13:25.910 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration: Yeah, you will. So let me just remind everybody next week is how to use your garden for climate change from Ty Boseley, who comes with a lot of praise for his presentation. So please do come if you can make it. Thank you all very much for coming today. Really appreciate it, and I hope to see you in the future. Take care, one and all.
495 01:13:25.910 --> 01:13:26.429 Cllr Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow-TC, Essex: Thanks very much.
496 01:13:26.430 --> 01:13:27.150 Matthew Lipton - South Glos Council: Your room.
497 01:13:27.150 --> 01:13:27.495 Cllr Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow-TC, Essex: Right.
498 01:13:27.840 --> 01:13:29.020 Andrew Maliphant, Great Collaboration: Bye, bye, that's right.
Councils provide more than 800 different services to their communities. Types of councils include:
Unitary Authorities
County Councils
District Councils
Combined Authorities
Town/Parish (Community Councils in Scotland and Wales)
Change moving up from the community meets with change coming down from the local authority, leading to achievable and lasting change.
Land Holdings
Safety
Public Opinion
Budgets
Machinery
Political Entities
Authority Size
Across England:
10,000 local councils
Over 30% of the country is parished
100,000 councillors collectively
To deliver on this pledge, our aims are:
Achieve carbon neutrality in South Gloucestershire by 2030
Maximise renewable energy generation within South Gloucestershire
Prepare for the local impacts of climate change
Protect, connect, and enhance biodiversity
Double tree canopy cover by 2030
Background:
July 2019: South Gloucestershire Council declared a Climate Emergency, committing to leadership in achieving carbon neutrality.
A toolkit to help YOU restore nature where you live.
Biodiversity background
Partnerships
Communications
Mapping
Stakeholders
Funding
Land Ownership
Reference materials
Example projects
Greening Up
Hedgehog Highways
Rotten Logs – Pure Gold!
Litter Bugs
Walking Arboretum
A Home for All
A Swift Recovery
Food 4 All
Pesticide-Free Town/Village
Marvellous Meadows
Daisy Finniear – Local Climate & Nature Action Plan Officer Contact: South Gloucestershire Council
EcoThornbury Points Scheme: Encourages involvement in climate and nature projects.
Tree Planting: Residents vote on tree choices (~120 votes received).
Mapping: Online tracking of tree planting, wildflower meadows, habitats.
Nature Volunteer Sessions (with Frampton Cotterell Nature Group & Scouts)
Solar panels, electric vehicles, refill stations
Net Zero 2030
Bat walks & workshops (inclusive for Deaf and Blind communities)
Environmental Policies (bat roosts, bird nests, pesticide use)
Energy-saving measures in the parish hall
Solar Farm planning approval
Wildlife conservation on solar farm
Ash Dieback Disease: Replacement planting and hedge restoration
Grassland & woodland enhancement for pollinators
Joint Project Ideas – Working Together
Avoid reinventing the wheel
Collaborate with neighboring parishes & district councils
Overcome common concerns (e.g., lack of land ownership, resources)
Joint Project 1: Hedgehog Heroes
Hedgehog Highways
Nature-friendly gardening
Community signs & event kits
Citizen science monitoring (Big Hedgehog Map, camera traps)
Joint Project 2: Community Nature Reserves
Gardening for nature
Mapping nature areas
Filling in gaps for wildlife corridors
Emersons Green Example: Over 150 gardens mapped
Joint Project 3: Tree Planting
Collaborating with residents
Planting trees in gardens
Challenges: Finding enough trees, selecting appropriate species
Dodington Parish Council: Climate Emergency Plan
Siston Parish Council: Local Climate & Nature Action Plan 2024-2027
Hawkesbury Parish Council: Local Nature Action Plan (LNAP)
Downend Parish Council: Downend LCNAP
Yate Town Council: Local Nature Action Plan
Winterbourne Parish Council: LNAP October 2022
Sodbury Town Council: Sodbury LNAP
Contact: Matthew Lipton 📧 nature@southglos.gov.uk
