A Local Nature Recovery Strategy for West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire has a powerful story to tell
West Yorkshire supports a wonderful range of landscapes and wildlife, from hills, peat bogs, craggy river valleys and rolling farmland, to nature reserves on old industrial sites, urban parks, allotments and canals. This environment underpins our lives. Nature offers recreation, beauty, physical and mental health benefits as well as providing food, carbon storage, clean air and flood management – all essential services for life on earth.
There has been a huge deterioration in the health of our natural environment. This is due to complex factors that include habitat loss, pesticides, disease, pollution and climate change. In our region, water voles are struggling to survive, hedgehogs are in decline and pockets of species-rich ancient woodland are few and far between.
Our vision
The Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, has pledged to tackle the climate and environment emergency. Restoring nature, biodiversity and wildlife habitats is at the heart of that ambition.
We will build a sustainable, nature-rich and climate-ready region that supports businesses and seizes the opportunities of a carbon-free economy, building resilience to the environmental challenges of the future.
Together, we will celebrate, protect and invest in nature, enhancing our rural and urban green spaces, parks, rivers, canals, valleys and moorland and shape the next chapter of our unique West Yorkshire story.
To help reverse decline, and to create a National Nature Recovery Network, a series of Local Nature Recovery Strategies will set out priorities, opportunities and actions to recover biodiversity and achieve wider environmental benefits such as carbon storage, flood control, water quality, health and wellbeing.
How you can help
We need your views to help ensure that the Local Nature Recovery Strategy for our region is ambitious, practical and useful. We want to hear what matters to you – for example, what types of nature and green space you enjoy, what nature means to you, what would help you enjoy more nature, more often.
Please take ten minutes to share your thoughts about local nature. Your thoughts will help us to identify opportunities to support nature and propose actions to help nature and people to thrive.
Take our survey here |
Also, we want to find out what is already happening to support nature, and where future action could take place, so there’s an interactive map to use too. Simply drop pins to tell us where recovery is happening, and where it could happen. This could be a place where tree planting is already happening, or an old pond that could be refilled.
With your help, we will develop a Local Nature Recovery Strategy for West Yorkshire that allows humans and other species to flourish, side by side.
Are you a business based in West Yorkshire?
Do you care about our environment and want to explore how you can contribute to nature recovery in our region? If so, join us to hear about a Local Nature Recovery Strategy for West Yorkshire, share your thoughts and explore opportunities for businesses.
We have commissioned Nifty Sustainability CIC to capture the views of businesses, developers, and commercial sector organisations in West Yorkshire.
Links to the events and registration can be found below:
Monday 22nd July – Online via Zoom – 1:30pm to 3pm
Tuesday 30th July - Wakefield Town Hall - 10.30am to 12.30pm
Thursday 1st August - Halifax Town Hall - 1.30pm to 3.30pm
Wednesday 7th August - Online via Zoom - 10am to 11.30
Thursday 8th August - WYCA, Leeds - 10am to 12noon
Alongside these events, we also have a survey for businesses, which is open until 9 August 2024.
Get in touch
If you, or someone you know, would like a paper copy of the survey, you can ask us via email at yourvoice@westyorks-ca.gov.uk or call MetroLine on 0113 245 7676.
You can write to us via Freepost CONSULTATION TEAM WYCA.
You can also read our FAQs.
If you have a question that's not covered there, you can ask us through our Questions Tool or email us at yourvoice@westyorks-ca.gov.uk.
Inspire us! If you’ve got stories, photos or case studies about supporting nature, wildlife and biodiversity, we’d love to hear what you’ve been up to.
If you'd like to share something please email naturerecovery@westyorks-ca.gov.uk.
Our Interactive Map
Tell us where you see nature recovery happening already, and where has good potential for recovery in the future.
How to use this map to have your say:
Step 1: Drag the map around and zoom in to find the place/s you'd like to tell us about. You can use the magnifying glass symbol on the right hand side of the page to enter a place or postcode.
Step 2: To add a pin: First, select the (+) button on the left hand side. Second, choose either to tell us where recovery is already happening (pink pin), or where recovery could happen in the future (green pin). Third, drag the pin onto the map.
Step 3: Once you've dragged and dropped the pin onto the map, add your comment to provide your feedback. You could also add an image in jpg, gif, png or bmp format.
Step 4: You can view other people's comments by simply clicking on the pins on the map. You can also use the filter so only your pins show to you.
Note: Comments will be displayed publicly so please don't include your personal details. Your email address will be visible to site admin only.
Who's Listening
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