Residents are being asked to have their say on actions to help ensure that the council conserves and enhances biodiversity in its area.
The authority is launching a public consultation inviting members of the public to comment on its proposed Section 40 Biodiversity Report, which outlines how it will take action to achieve its biodiversity duties as required by government.
The report contains the council’s proposed Biodiversity Duty policies and proposed actions on how these can be achieved. It will be updated on an annual basis, adding details of progress taken to achieve policy measures, revising actions for the coming year and updating the report with details of the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain.
To view the report and have your say on it as part of the consultation visit the council's website. The consultation runs until Monday 22 December.
Councillor Angus Ellis, Peterborough City Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said: “Like all councils, we are fully committed to ensuring we carry out our Biodiversity duties and it is imperative that we have guidelines to help achieve this.
“This report will essentially act as a road map for helping us achieve best practice as required by the government. We want to hear residents’ views and suggestions before proceeding, so I would urge everyone to please take part in this consultation. It will only take a few minutes of your time but your feedback will be vitally important.
"The report will be replacing the council's 2018 Biodiversity Strategy and we would particularly like to hear from people who previously commented on this."
Proposed policies in the report include seeking to ensure that planning applications deliver a greater quantity of ecosystem services through increased biodiversity and reducing the cost burden on other services through natural provision.
Identifying opportunities across existing green spaces to support a more diverse number of species and an overall greater amount of wildlife, creating a more complete ecosystem, are also proposed along with seeking to ensure that all council-owned Non-Statutory Sites achieve positive conservation status.
It is anticipated that after consultation a final Section 40 Biodiversity Report will be presented to Scrutiny ahead of Cabinet and Full Council in early 2026 before publication to central government at the end of March 2026.