On Monday 29th July, Natural Cambridgeshire, the local nature partnership, announced ambitious plans to double the area of rich wildlife habitats and natural green space across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough with the aim of creating a world-class environment where nature and people thrive, and businesses prosper.
The ambition has been drawn up by the partnership, including local authorities, statutory agencies, conservation charities, housing developers and community groups. It was launched by Tony Juniper, Chair of Natural England and James Palmer, Mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, at separate events at Waterbeach Barracks and the Hamptons Peterborough, both outstanding examples of how high-quality housing development can deliver new areas of nature rich landscape. Cambridgeshire currently has one of the smallest areas of land managed for nature and green space of any county in the country, relative to size. Natural Cambridgeshire wants to double that figure, from 8% to 16%. Contributions to this doubling will depend on initiatives in the fens including Wicken Vision, The Great Fen, New Life on the Old West, new agri-environment schemes and, hopefully soon, under the promoted sustainable development influence of the UNESCO Fenland Biosphere Reserve.
Links: Launch Document | Media Release Document
Natural Cambridgeshire Website: https://naturalcambridgeshire.org.uk/
Cambridge Conservation Forum (CCF) Website: http://www.cambridgeconservationforum.org.uk/