At a Horsham District Council Cabinet meeting on 25 September, senior councillors will look to agree an extension to its five-year Wilder Horsham District initiative.
The Wilder Horsham District project, delivered by a unique partnership between Horsham District Council and Sussex Wildlife Trust, was created in 2020 and is currently celebrating four years of supporting nature recovery and biodiversity in the Horsham District.
Over this time, it has delivered several major achievements which include:
- Supporting landowners to create and improve habitats, establishing more natural grazing, building habitat links, and introducing flood management measures.
- Delivering support to parish councils and community groups through workshops, site visits, habitat management training and more.
- Giving funding to support projects through the Nature Recovery Award, all contributing towards the creation of a Nature Recovery Network in Horsham District.
Commenting on the success of the partnership and its considerable contribution to improving biodiversity locally, Horsham District Council Cabinet Member for Climate Action and Nature Recovery Cllr Colette Blackburn said:
We are delighted to see the continuing progress of the Wilder Horsham District partnership project in delivering our shared aims of protecting and enhancing the rich natural life of the District.
We want to continue the momentum for change to encourage, inspire and support more individuals, landowners and community groups to reverse the decline in nature, and create better and more connected habitats.
In order to build upon the great achievements we have already delivered, we consider it essential to extend the Wilder Horsham District initiative to deliver on many of the large-scale projects we have started, satisfying the demand of local landowners and community groups.
The project also works with other organisations such as West Sussex County Council and neighbouring authorities to develop joint projects that will help to deliver the Nature Recovery Network. This includes the Weald to Waves scheme and the Adur River Recovery project.