Our Biodiversity Duty Report explains how the Council is meeting its legal duty under the Environment Act 2021 to consider and act on ways to conserve and enhance wildlife and natural habitats. It covers the period from January 2024 to December 2025. Following this, reports must be published every five years.
The report highlights work to restore habitats on Council owned land and with our communities and partners across Devon. Examples include major new tree planting, improvements and volunteering at our country parks and wildlife friendly changes to street lighting. Projects to improve estuaries, rivers and wetlands are also highlighted.
The report also describes the Council’s lead role in preparing the Devon Local Nature Recovery Strategy, which sets out priorities for restoring nature across Devon. Significant progress with imbedding Biodiversity Net Gain within Devon has been made, which requires planning applications to demonstrate a minimum of 10% gain in habitats.
The report makes clear that responsibility for protecting biodiversity sits across all Council services, not just environmental teams, and that progress will be monitored on an ongoing basis.
Link to Biodiversity Duty report in PDF format.
An accessible version of the report is available here .