Bath parks to benefit from cash to help boost the city's natural habitats
The £165,000 has been awarded as part of B&NES Council's plan to help tackle the climate and ecological crisis
Last updated 29th Jun 2024
A number of parks and green spaces across Bath are to benefit from £165,000 to help improve their natural habitats.
The money has been awarded as part of B&NES Council's plan to help tackle the climate and ecological crisis.
The cash will be used to help boost population of pollinating insects, and encourage more people to get into nature.
Who's getting the cash
In total Bath & North East Somerset Council has awarded £90,000 to local charity Your Park Bristol & Bath for their Bath Activator Programme.
The scheme has been developed to improve the city’s green infrastructure, with them receiving the funding from the Bath Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) charges imposed on developers.
An extra £75,000 to support the work has been secured from the West of England Combined Authority’s Pollinator Fund.
It means the charity will be able to reintroduce sustainable natural habitats to Bath's community-managed green spaces.
It's also hoped more people will be encouraged out into nature, in a bid to improve local people's health, wellbeing, and quality of life.
Boosting Bath's biodiversity
Councillor Tim Ball, cabinet member for Neighbourhood Services, said: “Over the past thirty years, insect populations have declined by more than 30% due to habitat loss. Insect species matter to us all, with pollinators crucial to our food supply, so it’s imperative we reverse the decline.
"By reintroducing sustainable natural habitats into Bath’s green spaces at scale we’ll boost the city’s biodiversity.
“We also know that spending time in nature has a positive impact on people’s mental and physical health and wellbeing, so this investment will not only benefit insects and wildlife but residents and visitors as well.”
Your Park Bristol & Bath will conduct a consultation with local residents, organisations and volunteers to make sure the right upgrades are implemented across the region, with their work including the creation of new meadows, ponds, planting of new trees and hedgerows.
Dan Norris, Metro Mayor, said: “Pollinators matter – in terms of helping flowers grow, but also in ensuring we can have the delicious West of England produce we’re renowned for year-round and keeping our precious countryside and green spaces maintained and cared for.
“That’s why I'm proud my Mayoral Combined Authority is investing in projects supporting our region’s pollinator friends like this one to improve not one, not two but 18 green spaces in the city - good news for Bathonians, and even better news for its bees.
"This will go a long way to make our amazing city an even better place for locals and pollinators alike to call home and help my Mayoral Combined Authority in our ambition to make the West the bee and pollinator capital of the whole country.”
'It all builds on that sense of ownership'
There will also be regular community gardening sessions in parks which don't have their very own 'Friends of' volunteer groups.
Locations in Bath which do have those groups will also be supported to enhance and maintain the spaces they care for.
Charlee Bennett, CEO of Your Park Bristol and Bath, said: “We’re delighted to have been awarded this funding for our Bath Activator Programme. The two-year programme will help to improve the city’s green infrastructure, contributing to cleaner air and improved carbon absorption and providing vital, free spaces for people to go for their physical and mental wellbeing.
“We know that everybody has a connection to their local green space. Involving local people is core to the programme, whether that’s choosing which flowers are planted or getting involved in planting them, it all builds on that sense of ownership and means that people are more likely to stay engaged, use and look after the space.”
Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Parks Team has been working closely with Your Park Bristol and Bath since 2020 to help deliver the council’s core aims of improving people’s lives and tackling the climate and ecological emergencies.
Founded in February 2019 as part of the national Rethinking Parks programme, Your Park Bristol & Bath is only the second parks foundation charity created in the UK, designed to reimagine how local communities can benefit from and support their parks and green spaces. The charity works closely with the two local authorities, Bristol City Council and Bath & North East Somerset Council, who are responsible for the upkeep of the 2,000+ hectares of local parks and green spaces but operates completely independently in their parks.
You can find out more about the Community Pollinator Fund here.
You can find out more about the Ecological Emergency, and how B&NES Council are dealing with it, on their website.