Poor timing means opportunities missed for new Nature Recovery Strategy

Poor timing means opportunities missed for new Nature Recovery Strategy
Derbyshire County Council is the lead local authority for the county’s first – and much to be welcomed – Nature Recovery Strategy. However as the Lib Dem Group leader, Cllr Lucy Care, pointed out, delayed acceptance by Derby City Council means that a chance to make it even better for Derby has been missed.
The new Strategy was accepted at a Cabinet member’s meeting on Monday afternoon – over two weeks after the deadline to highlight if improvements to the document are needed .
This means that it is too late to include changes, such as to strengthen the role of streams and ponds in Derby or to highlight the importance of planting native trees when improving tree cover in the city. The 11th July deadline for comments was set by Government regulations.
Ironically the formal report, written by Council staff, was signed off not only before 11th July, but in time to have been considered by the Executive Scrutiny Board and Cabinet meetings on the 7th and 9th July, respectively.
Cllr Lucy Care said “This is an important document, and deserved to have had a higher profile – and more timely - sign-off through the City Council’s Cabinet.
“Of course, excluding aims from this Strategy does not mean the City can’t still seek to promote them, but statutory documents, like this, carry weight. In particular, including stronger awareness of the importance of Derby’s streams and ponds could help keep areas currently being threatened by development green, particularly as Derby’s Local Plan is out of date.”
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Cllr Lucy Care  
The meeting papers are at: https://democracy.derby.gov.uk/Meetingscalendar/tabid/73/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/410/Meeting/10705/Committee/2009/Default.aspx