Biodiversity is added to March Town Council’s key policies

March Town Council has its own diversity policy after councillors agreed to adopt one at their monthly meeting.

Town clerk Sarah Lemmon explained the council should have a policy to comply with national policies and that she had found a suitable one and “tweaked” it to make it fit the town council’s requirements.

She said the council already considered biodiversity when making decisions, but having a policy would help make it more formal.

Ms Lemmon explained the council would not have to report back on it, nor would the policy be policed but it needed to be included alongside other policy documents.

The policy states: “The object of this policy is to work towards conserving and enhancing the biodiversity of the council’s area.

“The council will consider sustainability, environmental impact, and biodiversity when making decisions and will develop and implement policies and strategies as required.”

The policy would particularly apply when considering planning applications, supporting businesses in the adoption of nature-positive practices, assessing the use of chemicals on council-owned land, and restricting pesticides on open spaces and at allotments, among a huge raft of other expectations.

Allotment holders would be encouraged to use natural methods to assist and protect biodiversity.

Councillor Hannah Orbell, who formerly had an allotment, said most allotment holders try to keep the use of chemicals to a minimum anyway, but questioned how the council would police what was being used on plots.

Deputy clerk Sally Taylor said the annual tenancy renewal letters were about to be sent out and the new policy could be included in that.

It was agreed that pesticides could be used with care and only when necessary, but that tenants should inform the council of what they were planning to use just so it was aware of what was happening on its allotments.

The new policy, which will be available to view on the council’s website, was unanimously agreed.