Our immediate natural environment consists of all living and non-living things that naturally occur in our environment including trees, hedges, meadows, birds, insects, rocks, soil, rivers, ponds. Enhancing these results in a pleasant environment for us live in, offsets greenhouse gas emissions, improves biodiversity, builds climate resilience and helps us develop sustainably.

What is the council doing?

  • Through planning policies, we are asking that new developments demonstrate biodiversity net gain.
  • We organised a volunteer day for our staff to plant 150 trees at Aberford Park.
  • Seven of our parks hold the Green Flags Award: King George Recreation Ground, Aberford Park, Oakmere Park, Parkfield, Fisher’s Field & Park Local Nature Reserve, Bushey Rose Garden, Mary Forsdyke Garden and Warren Lake.
  •  We have management plans and greenspace action plans for a number of our parks and open spaces.
  • All paper used for printing in the Civic Offices is FSC certified.
  • We have partnered with Hertfordshire County Council to giveaway 6,000 trees in 2022 to our residents, businesses and community groups under the Your Tree, Our Future programme.

What can residents do?

  • Residents can improve biodiversity by planting pollinator friendly flowers, bushes, hedges and trees in their gardens.
  • By greening your garden such as soft landscaping your front gardens instead of paving, residents can support biodiversity.
  • Residents can put bird feeders and build bug hotels in their garden. Here are a few things to keep in mind when feeding birds.  
  • Use organic maintenance methods in your garden.
  • Do not litter. Plastic is harmful for marine life, animals and birds that may accidentally ingest it.
  • Buy seasonally and locally produced food. It supports local biodiversity and is fresher and better for you.
  • Get active outdoors to experience the natural environment responsibly. It is easy, cheap, fun and good for your physical and mental health.

What can businesses do?

  • If you run a restaurant, your business can support biodiversity by sourcing from responsible food production companies, by reducing use of plastics, using compostable plastics/paper where appropriate, grow an edible garden.
  • If you are a coffee shop, you could look into composting the spent coffee beans.
  • If you are a clothing retailer, you could support biodiversity by working with your supply chain to make it more biodiversity friendly.