A biodiversity officer for the county is an absolute minimum requirement and starting point if we are to seriously set about addressing the challenges out there for biodiversity in our county. One needs to be appointed as soon as is possible.
Barn owl numbers are under serious threat and a significant number of mortalities of barn owls have been noted in the recent past due to their low flying over motorways. Action needs to be taken to alleviate this situation.
A workshop for architects and planners could raise awareness around the need to take swifts, bats and other wildlife into consideration at the early stages of planning developemnts. There could be a requirement built into the planning laws to ensure minimum requirements for biodiversity are met as new developemnts proceed.
There is an opportunity here around wastewater treatment too, constructed wetlands could be used to treat wastewater whilst simultaneously providing habitat for wildlife. Public amenity access might also be possible here, making triple use of the area.
Please protect the floodplains of the River Barrow as they provide flood relief for all our riverside towns and are very important for seasonal wetland birds such as Golden Plover, Lapwing and Curlew. It would be more appropriate now to look at providing financial assistance to landowners suffering from seasonal flooding in view of the ecosystem services this is providing, rather than engaging in infrastructural flood relief programmes.