Report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing

This report provides an overview of the draft Manchester Biodiversity Strategy.

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing that provided an overview of the draft Manchester Biodiversity Strategy.

The Committee had been invited to comment on the report prior to it being considered by the Executive.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·         Providing an introduction and background;

·         Providing a definition of biodiversity;

·         Describing the benefits of biodiversity;

·         Information on the new Environment Act requirement for Biodiversity Net Gain and Nature Recovery Networks;

·         Providing a narrative on the development of the Biodiversity Strategy; and

·         Describing the aims and objectives of the Biodiversity Strategy, noting that the Council was committed to supporting the new biodiversity strategy.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were: -

·         Welcoming the legal commitment to improve biodiversity on development initiatives by 10%;

·         What monitoring of these developments would be undertaken and would developers be held to account;

·         Did these initiatives have to be delivered on the site or could they be delivered in other locations;

·         Could we ask developers to commit to more than 10%;

·         More needed to be done with partners, such as Transport for Greater Manchester and Metrolink, to ensure the land they owned was managed to support biodiversity and to act as nature corridors;

·         Noting the importance and need for nature corridors to support biodiversity;

·         The need to ‘retrofit’ the city centre, noting the lack of shade from trees and the support these offered to biodiversity;

·         The need to lobby government for appropriate funding to support improvements to biodiversity;

·         Recognising the importance of green spaces for the mental health of all residents; and

·         Noting the positive example of delivering quality green space in the Mayfield development and that this should be used as an exemplar model for developers.

The Planning and Infrastructure Manager advised that ideally the 10% biodiversity improvement would be delivered on the site but recognised that this would not always be practical. He advised that in those circumstances alternative sites would be considered in Manchester, or in Greater Manchester if a site could not be identified in the city. He said that an action plan for the agreed site and project would be agreed and this would be a mechanism to monitor the project. He stated that 10% was the minimum requirement; however, the Local Plan could be used as a mechanism to increase this ask if it was felt to be appropriate.

The Senior Policy Officer stated that the concept of connectivity was understood, adding that every space was part of the wider network and this evidence-based Strategy would inform all decision making. He advised that there were a number of stakeholders who were committed to the Strategy, and this would serve as an important catalyst to improve biodiversity across the city and the wider city region. He further stated that the Strategy would also improve the wider environment and also address social inequalities. He stated that ultimately nature would be the barometer to measure success of this approach.

The Principal Planning Policy Officer advised that this Strategy would complement and sit alongside the Manchester Green and Blue Strategy and Implementation Plan and the Tree Action Plan.

The Executive Member for Environment and Transport stated that a partnership approach to deliver nature-based solutions and all levers of influence and sources of funding would be accessed to support this activity.

Decision

The Committee recommend that the Executive approve and endorse the Manchester Biodiversity Strategy.