How Councils Can Support Pollinators

Enhancing green spaces in London where all natural pollinators can thrive, and their habitats can be enjoyed by all.

How Councils Can Support Pollinators

Overview

Local authorities play one of the most important roles in protecting and restoring urban biodiversity. Council-managed land – parks, verges, housing estates, cemeteries, allotments and public spaces – collectively represents one of the largest land management decisions in any urban area. When managed strategically, this land can become a powerful network of pollinator habitat. Councils also shape what happens on privately owned land through planning policy, procurement, and community engagement, multiplying their impact well beyond their own estate.

High-Impact Council Actions

The following actions consistently deliver the greatest biodiversity gains per unit of effort and cost on council-managed land:

Reduce mowing frequency on amenity grass areas – particularly road verges, cemetery margins, park edges and school grounds. A shift from weekly or fortnightly cutting to a once or twice annually regime (with appropriate timing) can transform low-value grass into productive wildflower habitat within one to three years.
Raise cutting heights on all managed grass – set minimum cutting heights at 7–10cm rather than close-cutting. This single change allows flowering plants to establish in existing sward without any reseeding.
Convert identified grass verges and margins to wildflower areas – prioritise sites on well-drained, lower-fertility soils and those that connect existing green spaces. Clear public communication about why verges look different during the growing season is essential to manage public expectations.
Replace seasonal bedding plant schemes with long-lived, pollinator-friendly perennial planting – bedding schemes are resource-intensive, require replacement twice yearly and typically offer very limited pollinator value. Native perennial schemes cost more to establish but are significantly lower maintenance and ecologically far superior.
Reduce and ultimately eliminate pesticide use on council land – set a target date for cessation of insecticide use on all council-managed land and develop a programme for reducing herbicide use, replacing it with mechanical management where practicable.
Plant native trees and native or near-native shrubs in parks and streetscapes – prioritise species with high ecological value such as hawthorn, wild cherry, field maple, rowan and native willow species.

Strategic Planning Approaches

Councils have unique leverage through their planning and strategic functions:

Develop a council pollinator action plan – a publicly committed, measurable plan with named responsible officers, specific targets (species, habitat area, connectivity) and annual reporting. This creates accountability and enables progress to be tracked.
Map habitat corridors across the council area using tools such as the Defra Magic Map, local LERC (Local Environmental Records Centre) data and green infrastructure mapping. Identify priority gaps where targeted investment would have most connectivity impact.
Integrate biodiversity requirements into local planning policy – require Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) on all applicable developments, specify pollinator-friendly planting in design codes and development briefs, and ensure ecological management plans are conditioned and enforced.
Embed Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) priorities into council decision-making – the LNRS identifies the most important areas and actions for nature recovery in your area. Council land management and planning decisions should be assessed against LNRS priorities.
Include pollinator targets in sustainability, climate and biodiversity strategies – linking pollinator health to climate resilience, public health and net zero narratives broadens political support and enables cross-departmental coordination.

Biodiversity Net Gain: Opportunities for Councils

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) became mandatory for most developments in England in February 2024. It requires development projects to demonstrate a minimum 10% improvement in biodiversity value, measured using the Defra biodiversity metric. This creates significant opportunities and responsibilities for councils in two distinct roles:

As planning authorities: councils must now ensure that planning applications include an adequate BNG assessment and a credible biodiversity gain plan. Embedding ecological expertise in planning teams, adopting local BNG policies that exceed the 10% statutory minimum, and requiring long-term management commitments are all levers available to planning authorities.
As landowners: council-owned land can be used to provide off-site BNG units for developers who cannot achieve sufficient gain on their development site. This creates a potential revenue stream that can fund habitat creation and management on council land – effectively allowing developers’ BNG obligations to finance improvements to the council’s own ecological estate.

PLT can support councils in understanding BNG requirements, identifying suitable land for habitat creation, and developing the monitoring frameworks needed to verify and report on biodiversity gains over the mandatory 30-year management period.

Community Engagement

Community participation dramatically improves the long-term success of pollinator habitat initiatives. Councils can partner with:

Schools – for habitat creation projects, citizen science recording and environmental education programmes
Volunteer groups and conservation organisations – for practical habitat management, species recording and community engagement
Local charities and community groups – for co-designing and maintaining community spaces
Businesses – for corporate volunteering, sponsorship of habitat projects and improvement of private land adjacent to council assets
Residents – through garden pledge schemes, verge adoption programmes and participatory design of local green spaces

Clear, proactive communication with residents about management changes – particularly the visual shift from close-cut amenity grass to taller, flowering verges – is essential. Experience from councils across the UK shows that well-communicated changes are well-received; poorly communicated changes generate complaints even when ecologically beneficial.

Benefits for Councils

Measurable biodiversity improvement aligned with statutory BNG and LNRS obligations
Lower long-term maintenance costs once habitats are established – note that transition from amenity grass management involves upfront costs in soil preparation, seeding and initial management, with savings realised over a three to five year horizon
Climate resilience through increased green infrastructure, urban cooling and improved surface water management
Positive public perception, particularly among younger residents and those with strong environmental concerns
Stronger environmental credentials supporting national and regional sustainability commitments
Potential revenue from BNG unit sales on council-owned land

Best Practice Principle

Small, well-managed changes across many sites consistently outperform large, poorly managed changes in only one location. A network of improved verges, adjusted mowing regimes and community gardens distributed across a borough creates connectivity, visibility and ecological impact that no single showcase site can match. Start where success is most achievable, communicate it well, and build from there.