Falkirk Council welcomes nomination for biodiversity project

The council’s sustainable grass management pilot caused controversy when it was first announced but has now been praised by COSLA, the umbrella group for local authorities.

It has been nominated in the ‘Just transition to a net zero economy’ category of the CoSLA Excellence Awards, which highlight areas of best practice and innovative service delivery.

The pilot saw changes to 35 areas of council-owned land – from parks to road verges – that led to a huge increase in biodiversity, thanks to more natural grass, wildflowers and more tree planting.

These changes also led to a reduction in carbon and grassland that is much more resilient to more extreme weather associated with climate change, such as hotter days and heavy rainfall.

The scheme was initially criticised as some residents were concerned it made it more difficult to pick up after dogs while others were worried about ticks in the long grass. In a few locations, residents’ concerns led to short grass being reinstated, but in most places the response was generally positive.

The council’s biodiversity officer, Anna Perks, said she was delighted for everyone in the team at the recognition for its success.

“Change is always difficult and the success of this pilot project was down to the enthusiasm and co-operation and joint working with the green network team in the council but also the grounds maintenance team,” she said.

“It’s really nice to get that recognition for a project that took a lot of effort and a lot of teamwork but we felt was so worthwhile and delivered really positive results. It’s great to deliver the sort of change that we need to be seeing in response to the climate emergency and the biodiversity emergency.”

The pilot project is now being rolled out across the council’s green spaces and Anna says the team are “keen to keep the ball rolling”.

Their aim is make sure that natural spaces across the district are connected to provide ‘corridors’ that allow wildlife to move more easily across the landscape.

“It’s early days but the sites we’ve been working on will be a key part of those networks,” said Anna.

“Hopefully, they won’t just be networks for wildlife but also relaxing green spaces for people to enjoy and discover the wildlife that’s around them.”

Anna is keen that joint working between the various parts of the council continues so that biodiversity can be considered in all aspects of the council’s work.

She said: “The work round the Helix is a good example – I’ve spoken to the roads engineers a lot and the team of consultants are working with a concept called ‘biodiversity net gain’.

“The idea is that as part of any project you reduce your impact on biodiversity as much as possible and if you have an impact, you compensate for that somehow, and by the end of the project you have actually increased the amount of biodiversity and natural habitat that’s there or near the site if you have to.”

Anna isn’t the only one in Falkirk Council looking forward to the awards evening in September, however,

The council has been nominated for four CoSLA Excellence Awards – by far the most picked up by local authority this year.

It also made the final three for its 24/7 CCTV/Digital Alarms Hub, well-being activity in its libraries and the regeneration of Zetland Park.