CAMBRIDGESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL LEAD ON NATURE RECOVERY FROM THE GROUND UP

The Environment and Green Investment Committee, 21 Jan 2026 agreed the new Climate change strategy, the budget submission and a progress report on biodiversity and nature in Cambridgeshire for the last 5 years.

‘We debated the budget and agreed as a cross party committee to put forward proposals which included funding for nature and community energy projects.  These are projects focussed at local level and capable of delivering environmental and financial benefits for our villages, towns and cities’ said Adam Bostanci, Liberal Democrat, Vice-Chair of the Environment and Green Investment committee.

Nature Recovery From The Ground Up

One of the new projects is ‘Nature Recovery from the Ground Up’. The 4-year project, is starting with clusters of parishes across the county working together to create their own community nature recovery plans.  Some of these may be smaller focussed projects looking at a single species such as Swift corridors or hedgehog access, other projects might be larger scale say the joining up or restoring of habitats. We might even see some new local nature reserves.

‘I joined a South Cambs community meeting last night in Cottenham’ said Ros Hathorn, Liberal Democrat, Chair of Environment and Green Investment committee.  ‘The value you get from community groups committed to make a difference to the place where they live through volunteering, creativity and community is enormous, the council is trying to understand the barriers communities face when trying to increase nature locally and the opportunities that exist.’

‘The potential for shared learning was clear. Many groups spoke of the urgent need for more volunteers and younger volunteers but there were solutions discussed.   Histon and Impington Green Spaces charity meanwhile have focussed on activities such as winter nature talks, bird ringing events and butterfly counts to grow a volunteer network of over 80 people from age 11 through to retirees. The county council can support the sharing of knowledge and resources across communities and look for opportunities to overcome the barriers nature groups face.’

‘The council is also in a position to coordinate the large-scale ordering of trees and hedgerow species through the woodland trust for local groups.  Plants we will begin to see growing across Cambridgeshire over the next few years.’  If your community wants to get involved, you can email community.nature@cambridgeshire.gov.uk for more information.