The Natural Assets Plan sets out how the Council and its partners can improve the area’s unique natural environment for the benefit of everyone. It explains why they are important, what our current situation is and what actions the Council plans to take in the short, medium, and long-term to improve it.
Looking after our natural environment is more urgent, as climate change increasingly impacts on our lives. Many of the ways we can help tackle climate change rely on improvements to the natural world, called nature-based solutions. We have a separate set of actions for reducing carbon emissions in our Carbon Roadmap, and they both go hand in hand.
We have chosen eight themes to focus on, and have set out in this plan our reasoning, our duties and services, our current work and where we plan to act next.
Planning our future land use
Managing our open spaces
Biodiversity and special sites
Trees and woodlands
Water Management
Improving air quality
Protecting health and wellbeing
Education, involvement, and enjoyment
What have we done so far?
Looked at and understood the opportunities offered by the Natural England’s Green Infrastructure toolkit.
Reviewed play equipment across the borough.
Ongoing management work as part of the Dynamic Dunescapes project.
Finalised our Air Quality Strategy.
Investigated the Carbon Literacy Trust techniques and materials, to see how we might develop our own public messages.
Researched different methods and costs of managing verges for greater biodiversity.
Drafted a Scoping and Issues Paper as part of the Local Plan Review, addressing climate change and touching on health and wellbeing matters.
Leading the development of the SuDs (Sustainable Drainage Infrastructure) Retrofit Project.
Works on the Cycle Super Highway project linking Grimsby and Immingham are almost completed – The Cycle Superhighway, linking Immingham and Grimsby, supports active travel across the borough.
We have completed work on our second industrial mitigation site on the South Humber bank at Novartis Ings.
What are we doing next?
Work with partners to look at how we boost engagement with nature in our most deprived areas.
Produce a programme of events for the Grounds Force volunteer group, delivering management work on our open spaces.
Research new ways for us to display our Air Quality information to make it more accessible.
Utilise findings from the walking and cycling audit to inform future funding bids for infrastructure development and improvement, and to inform route improvements as part of the annual Local Transport Plan Capital Programme.
Writing and implementation of the Council’s Tree Strategy – move this to what have we done so far and update: We have developed and implemented a Tree Strategy helping to manage and enhance our local tree population and supporting our ‘Greening Up Our Place’ campaign.
Life on the Saltmarsh
Read about Life on the Saltmarsh. A rare and internationally important habitat for wildlife in Cleethorpes on our story map.