Building on its monitoring of the progress of the Parish Council’s Biodiversity Policy, the February meeting of the council approved a prioritisation of modified objectives for 2025. Among those that ranked highest were:
- ensuring the commitment to enhancing the local biodiversity in the Littleton Village Design Statement (LVDS) is vigorously pursued
- continuing to advocate that the future SJMB development achieves the best biodiversity gain, including both the adoption of the Candidate SINC and for biodiversity-sensitive public access
- advocating the retention of the Winchester-Littleton settlement gap
- undertaking a review of the Conservation Management Plan for the Tumulus Field
- ensuring the various flower beds and meadow areas under the Parish Council’s control adopt a ‘planting for biodiversity’ approach
Other notable objectives include:
- enhancing the biodiversity in and around the Recreation Ground and Conservation Field (including hedges and trees, maintenance regimes and use of chemicals)
- ensuring biodiversity matters are considered in the parish council’s reviews of planning applications
- encouraging further volunteer involvement such as developing neighbourhood meadows and surveys at key parish locations, as well as participation in ‘citizen science’ initiatives such as the recent Big Garden Birdwatch and the Big Butterfly Count (July-Aug 2025)
Cllr David Tozer of the Parish Action on the Climate Emergency (PACE) comments: “It’s astonishing that even at parish-scale level, there are still so many opportunities to give nature a helping hand, whether that’s through tweaking our council practices or encouraging new initiatives. We’d love to hear from local residents of any initiatives they could help with or instigate.”
If interested, please contact the Parish Clerk at clerk@lhpc.org.uk.