Tell us what you are doing to support local habitats and biodiversity
Feedback updated 25 Sep 2024
We asked
Between 8 April and 19 May 2024, we undertook a survey to promote environmental awareness for the natural environment and to understand who takes part in one of the national campaigns to support local habitats and biodiversity.
The No Mow May campaign, run by Plantlife, encourages people to avoid cutting grass areas allowing them to grow naturally for a while, greatly helping the environment.
This is the second year that the council has supported the campaign.
You said
There were 107 responses to the survey. The main results are below:
- 64 respondents knew that the council gets involved with the No Mow May campaign, with over 77% supporting this.
- The majority of respondents (47.65%) said that they found out about our (the councils') support by social media channels, emails from the council or through their parish council.
- Many respondents support or take part in No Mow May. With more than 50% of respondents leaving grass or a section of grass in their garden to grow. Over 48% plant wildflowers and almost 30% encourage others to participate.
- Overall, over 77% support the campaign and 14% don't support with the remaining feeling neutral towards it.
- More than half respondents intend to take part in the future, and will generally do a bit more to encourage wildlife and biodiversity throughout the year.
We did
From the feedback you provided we were able to identify some key themes which will help us to target communications better in the coming years and educate residents on why we take part, address concerns and inform people of the benefits of improving biodiversity.
The results from this survey have helped us to understand who is taking part and how effective the campaigne has been. We will use this for future No Mow May campaign planning and deciding what is the best course of action.
Overview
As we enter the spring and summer months the Council is looking at ways it can help promote environmental awareness for the natural environment.
We would like to understand who takes part in one of the national campaigns so that we can understand how West Northamptonshire residents have positively impacted biodiversity.
Background
The council supports a national campaign ran by Plantlife called No Mow May. The campaign runs each year through the month of May and encourages garden owners and others that look after green space to avoid cutting grass areas, allowing their gardens to grow wild for a while.
We are also doing our bit by allowing some of the green spaces we look after to grow wildly for May, where safe and reasonable to do so.
What do we mean by safe and reasonable?
We only look to cut areas where they are not going to cause a hazard. For example, we allow verges to grow, however, we take account of pedestrians and traffic by cutting the necessary amount of grass verge to make it safe.
We work closely with our Highways department to ensure that we are complying with and ensuring anything that has the potential to cause harm is mitigated.
Why should we take part in No Mow May?
Creating areas for our wildlife is vitally important, the best time to do this is in late Spring although we encourage this all-year round.
Birds, bats, beetles, butterflies and other wildlife are pollinators, this means that they are needed for flowers and crops to reproduce or produce food.
Without pollinators we would not have an agricultural economy, which means we would not have a food supply, it would greatly change the natural environment and surrounding landscapes.
Facts about pollinators
- The majority of the world's flowers depend on pollinators to reproduce
- One out of three bites of food you eat depends on pollinators
- Bees are the one of the main pollinators for our crops
We want to hear from you
We are asking West Northamptonshire residents to feedback on if they know about the scheme, if they have taken part in the past and if they would like to take part in the future.
It is important for us all to do what we can to encourage wilding and biodiversity, and this is a way for us to understand how you are getting involved in your communities to help the natural environment.
The result from this very short survey will help us to know how many are taking part in the national campaign, map local areas where people are taking part and make sure we are reaching as many people as we can in our area, as well as allowing us to broadly monitor sustainability.
If you have any queries about this survey, you can contact: sustainable@westnorthants.gov.uk
This survey will close midnight Sunday 19 May 2024.
Thank you for your interest. For further information on how to take part, tips and frequently asked questions please the Plantlife website (link opens in a new window).
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