Communities across Berkshire invited to help shape Local Nature Recovery Strategy

Communities across Berkshire including Maidenhead, Windsor and Slough are being invited to take part in workshops and a survey to help shape plans for protecting and improving natural habitats in the county.

Berkshire’s six councils, led by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead want to involve residents, NGOs, landowners, community groups, developers and others to create a Local Nature Recovery Strategy for Berkshire this year.

Funded by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) as part of a bigger national nature recovery project, the resultant blueprint for the county’s nature recovery will be a nature map of opportunities and a list of biodiversity priorities.

It will prioritise where investment and time are required the most to boost, protect or enlarge habitats, create wildlife corridors, and create new habitats on land or around watercourses.

The strategy will aid joint working around nature recovery and focus the expertise, decisions and investment of many partner organisations and individuals, while helping to support and inform funding bids for specific projects.

Following conversations with farmers, land managers, and landowners, the project team will host a community workshop in each area in the county, alongside a Berkshire-wide survey to involve residents, charities, community groups, businesses, schools, colleges and others in shaping the strategy.

The community workshops will take place as follows:

• Royal Berkshire of Windsor and Maidenhead – Braywick Nature Centre on Monday, April 8 from 9.30am to 12.30pm
• Bracknell Forest – Foxes Den Café at Binfield Community Centre on Wednesday, April 10 from 5.30pm to 8.30pm
• Slough – Salt Hill Activity Centre on Tuesday, April 16 from 11am to 2pm
• Wokingham – Maiden Place in Earley on Saturday, April 20 from 10am to 1pm
• West Berkshire – Corn Exchange at Hungerford Town Hall on Tuesday, April 23 from 12pm to 3pm
• Reading – Dee Space Community Centre on Thursday, April 25 from 12pm to 3pm
• A Berkshire-wide online workshop – on Zoom on Tuesday, April 30 from 6.30pm to 8pm

The workshops provide an opportunity to find out more about the project and how to get more involved in supporting nature locally.

Places at the in-person workshops are limited to two people maximum per organisation.

To register an interest in coming along, visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/berkshire-nature-recovery-77589872633 or for those unable to register online call Braywick Nature Centre at 01628 777440.

People can also share their thoughts in the survey at: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=MsFu2pacUkGSWMs4GZc0kbeDNv-zvnlNtmFlsHa2cApUNFk0RUFJSUczWU5PT1hUODk0WFJBN1lVUy4u until Tuesday, May 7.

Those without online access can use the public-access computers at local libraries and paper copies of the survey form are also available from all libraries upon request.

Councillor Karen Davies, Cabinet member for climate change and biodiversity, said: “This is a great opportunity to get involved in influencing Berkshire’s blueprint for nature recovery, which once

finalised will help protect and improve vital natural habitats for the benefit of wildlife, people and the environment we share.

“We want Berkshire’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy to be a really collaborative, inclusive and locally led process, so please register for one of the workshops and/or participate in the survey.

“Ideally, register to the event in your borough, but you are welcome to attend whichever is most convenient for you.”