Grassland Strategy 2023-2033

The aims of the strategy are to provide a framework for improving biodiversity and carbon sequestration through the identification and agreement of sustainable practices for effective grassland management of the council’s managed land for the benefit of both people and wildlife.

The aims of this Strategy are to:

• Provide a framework by which biodiversity can be enhanced through the protection of priority sites, increased abundance and connectivity of wildflower and grassland habitat within the council’s managed land.
• Identify appropriate and sustainable management practices that will tackle the nature and climate emergency and address declines in biodiversity and pollinators nationally and locally.
• Seek out methods to maximise carbon sequestration whilst minimising the carbon footprint through appropriate management and resourcing.
• Increase awareness and improve knowledge and understanding of climate emergencies and the importance of biodiversity, wildflower grasslands and pollinators to achieve acceptance of the Strategy and practices within the community

Although the focus of the strategy is on the council’s management of its own land, there is a direct link to how the council can influence the management and creation of additional grassland areas through planning policy and/or development management as well as influencing the management of private gardens.

The strategy provides an opportunity for the council to demonstrate how it can help to deliver priorities set out in Leicester's Climate Emergency Strategy, Biodiversity Action Plan and Green Infrastructure Strategy as well fulfilling its legal duty to conserve and enhance biodiversity in exercising its statutory functions under the NERC Act (2006) and Environment Act (2021).

In order to achieve these aims the strategy will:

• Continually review and update grass cutting regimes, mapping and data
• Prioritise areas for grassland restoration and enhancement, improving grassland management and increasing the connectivity for biodiversity across the city
• Provide educational information, which, along with the strategy can be used  to increase public awareness of the revises grassland management regimes and rationale for change.