Barking and Dagenham Council has approved an interim biodiversity duty statement, outlining the council's commitment to conserving and enhancing biodiversity across the borough. The statement, which aligns with the London Local Nature Recovery Strategy, details six key objectives and the actions the council is taking or plans to implement.
The objectives include helping people enjoy nature through planning policies and educational programmes, creating larger and more connected habitats via tree planting and wetland restoration, boosting wildlife populations with species reintroduction schemes, supporting pollinators, nurturing healthy soils and watercourses, and protecting wildlife from invasive species.
Councillor Cameron Geddes, Cabinet Member for Regeneration & Economic Development, highlighted the council's efforts, including planting 150,000 trees and initiating projects like the River Rom wetlands restoration. He also noted the importance of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) in new developments, with some applications seeking gains of over 144%.
The statement acknowledges the challenges faced, including a decline in certain species and areas deficient in access to nature. The council's strategy for addressing species decline includes species recovery projects, ensuring new developments cater for bat and bird boxes, and revisiting the 'Cockney Sparrow' project. The interim biodiversity duty statement notes that in the absence of a localised baseline, it is hard to discern the levels of species decline in the borough and just because a species is no longer reported does not necessarily mean it has disappeared completely, and yet we can gauge from more regular surveying – such as the results of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch - trends of decline and improvement.
Examples of declining species include the house sparrow, with numbers reported sharply decreased every year since 2022,
and endangered plant species like Marsh Clubmoor, which has not been recorded since 1846.
Boosting Wildlife and Supporting Pollinators
For boosting wildlife populations, the statement mentions ensuring new developments cater for bat and bird boxes and trialing the deployment of bird boxes during housing retrofits to encourage the recovery of swifts and house martins. For pollinators, the council is working with B-Lines to create an extensive super honey highway across Barking & Dagenham, supported by wild-flowering across more than 15 parks, open spaces, cemeteries, and central reservations, enabled by Carbon Offset Funding. They are also allowing for unmown meadows to flourish in parks and open spaces to encourage invertebrates, butterflies, and moths.
Species Reintroduction and Conservation Efforts
The interim biodiversity duty statement mentions species recovery projects with the reintroduction of the iconic Eurasian beavers and white storks at Eastbrookend Country Park and The Chase, supported through the Council's allocation of Community Infrastructure Levy funding. It also mentions the possibility of glow worm reintroduction and a campaign to support the house sparrow 'Cockney Sparrow' project delivering 500 woodcrete sparrow nesting boxes across Barking & Dagenham. The timeline for these is ongoing, with the sparrow box project planned for 2026/27.
Nurturing Healthy Soils and Watercourses
Actions to nurture healthy soils include exploring the use of grazing at Beam Parklands to encourage the restoration of acid grasslands, and encouraging sustainable land management policies in parks and expanding no-mow areas. For watercourses, the council is applying beneficial bacteria to park lakes to improve water quality, campaigning for Thames Water to upgrade sewage outflow infrastructure, and examining the introduction of floating reedbeds in the Roding and other watercourses. Metrics for success are not explicitly detailed, but the actions aim to improve water transparency, support aquatic plant growth, sequester carbon, and support avian and aquatic ecosystems.
Ensuring Equitable Access to Nature
The interim biodiversity duty statement acknowledges significant swathes of Areas of Deficiency in Access to Nature (AoDs)
and states that More than 23% of the borough is judged to be deficient in access to nature, largely centred in the Chadwell Heath and Marks Gate areas, down through the central spine of the Becontree Estate covering large parts of the Heath, Alibon, Valence and Parsloes wards.
The statement outlines that the BNG grant is being used to upskill the planning team and provide specialist technical advice on planning applications, seeking improved biodiversity outcomes across the borough. It also mentions prioritizing the use of the Carbon Offset Fund for nature-based carbon sequestration projects such as tree-planting and reed bedding which support habitat enhancement. Furthermore, the council is sustaining a program of wildlife education for schools and adults at country parks and highlighting environmental awareness days through communications channels to promote nature. The statement also mentions exploring the creation of apprenticeships in conservation and nature management to steward green spaces and wildlife.
Educational Programmes
The interim biodiversity duty statement mentions sustaining a programme of wildlife education for schools and adults at country parks, including forest schools, bushcraft; trees, plants, invertebrate and butterfly identification sessions and guided bat and bird identification tours.
It also highlights Highlighting environmental awareness days through the council's communication channels, newsletters and social media to promote nature – examples include RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch; wetlands day; Love Our Parks theme.
The council is working with partners such as Thames21 and the London Wildlife Trust to implement these objectives. A more comprehensive Biodiversity Action Plan is expected to be developed following a review of the borough's Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs) in 2026/27. The interim statement can be found in the Biodiversity Duty - App 2.
