Mayor’s new nature plan to boost West Yorkshire’s resilience to extreme weather

Mayor Tracy Brabin has today (Wednesday 8th July) set out a new plan to boost the region’s resilience to heat, drought and floods, as the third heatwave in as many months is forecast.

West Yorkshire’s first Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) will restore habitats for wildlife, help to cool down neighbourhoods, provide better flood control, and connect people to nature to help improve health and wellbeing. 

Showing support of the plans for the strategy, Environmentalist Sir David Attenborough has said that it shows that a greener future for West Yorkshire can be achieved through realistic, practical action.

The plan includes planting more trees, making towns and cities more wildlife-friendly, and ensuring more people can access high-quality green spaces and spend more time outside in nature.

It highlights the importance of improving water quality to make canals and rivers clean and healthy, rewetting landscapes such as the uplands so they can hold more water, and creating new ponds and wetlands, which could unlock benefits for animals and plants, people and places. 

This will help to make West Yorkshire a more attractive places to live, work and invest, as well as making neighbourhoods cooler and more comfortable, and strengthen communities by giving people new ways of coming together. Nature recovery will also help increase the number of green jobs across the region.

People in West Yorkshire have already begun to experience the impact of extreme weather events, with floods on Boxing Day 2015 causing devastating damage worth £228 million to people’s homes, businesses and infrastructure. The plan comes following a period of intense heat in June, with new records temperatures recorded for the region and country. Investing in nature can help to manage these types of events better in the future. 

Since 2016, the Combined Authority has invested around £58 million in flood protection – including investment in natural flood management - with a further £285 million leveraged towards protecting vulnerable communities, homes and businesses from flooding in West Yorkshire.

Launching the strategy, the Mayor visited Stirley, a nature reserve in Huddersfield run by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (YWT), where she heard about people’s experiences of and connection to nature. Among those she met were representatives from Pinc Woodlands College, not-for-profit social enterprise Green Future Building Ltd and the charity River Holme Connections. 

Mayor Brabin later visited Waterton Park in Wakefield, which is hailed as the world’s first nature reserve, to celebrate the launch of the strategy with partners including White Rose Forest, YWT, Peak District National Park, Rivers Trust, Natural England, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission and local authorities.

Speaking about the launch of the strategy, Mayor Tracy Brabin said:

" “The time to act on extreme weather is now – in West Yorkshire we’ve experienced record-breaking heatwaves this summer and seen once-in-a-hundred-year floods becoming more common.

“Nature is supposed to be enjoyed, and we want future generations to understand just how lucky we are to have beautiful landscapes and green spaces on our doorstep, so it’s our responsibility to protect them.

“This plan sets out targets to restore habitats, improve water quality, and make it easier for more people to spend more time in nature, giving us real hope for the future as we work to make West Yorkshire a greener, nature-rich region for all."

While people across the region live near beautiful landscapes, West Yorkshire is one of the most built-up areas in the country, with around 85 per cent of people living in densely populated, historically industrial towns and cities such as Leeds, Bradford, and Wakefield.

Yorkshire has also seen a significant decline in wildlife with 3,000 species that may be at risk of extinction. Modifications to rivers and the loss of wetlands have also made the region more vulnerable to flooding.

The Combined Authority shared news of the publication of the region’s first Nature Recovery Strategy with Sir David Attenborough, who has previously spoken about his admiration for the 19th century naturalist and conservationist Charles Waterton, founder of Waterton Park. In a letter, he wished the strategy success.

He said:

“West Yorkshire’s first nature recovery strategy is set, very appropriately, in the home of the world’s first nature reserve. It describes how a still greener, more diverse future can be achieved through realistic, practical action.

“I hope it inspires many others to develop a strong connection with the natural world, not only through action to help wildlife but also through the arts and other activities.

“I wish it every success."

Rachael Bice Chief Executive of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust said:

“We applaud the clear leadership Mayor Brabin is giving to West Yorkshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy, which will drive the improvement of the quality of life and resilience of communities across West Yorkshire, as well as securing the precious habitats and species which create the beauty and the power of our natural living systems which we all depend on.”

Paul Duncan, Deputy Director for Natural England in Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire, said:

"West Yorkshire's Local Nature Recovery Strategy has Natural England's full support. Protecting and restoring the habitats and species that make our natural environment so special requires exactly this kind of collaboration between local communities, land managers and conservation organisations. The work in West Yorkshire is a great example of that in action.

"This strategy is a vital tool in halting and reversing the decline of nature, and we look forward to working alongside West Yorkshire Combined Authority and other partners to translate it into real, meaningful action by creating habitats that are bigger, better and more connected, so that wildlife, natural heritage and people can thrive for generations to come."

Sally Parker, Catchment Coordinator, from the Environment Agency, said:

“The Environment Agency is proud to play its part in supporting the West Yorkshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy with its 'big blue thread' focus on the role of water. These ensure that nature recovery efforts are targeted where they will have the greatest impact. From improving water quality and restoring habitats, to reducing flood risk and returning degraded peatlands to good condition.
 
"Working alongside partners we are committed to helping turn these strategies into meaningful action on the ground to succeed in halting and reversing the decline of biodiversity."

Read more about the strategy here: West Yorkshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy