Appendix 2
Perth and Kinross Council · 24 August 2022
Back to Climate Change and Sustainability Committee — 24 August 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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PKC Nature Restoration Fund 2021-22 Report. July 2022. NatureFund@pkc.gov.uk 1 Perth & Kinross Nature Restoration Fund 2021-22 Report In August 2021 the Council received £166,000 from the Nature Restoration Fund. The purpose of the Fund is to address the biodiversity crisis and its causes - habitat loss and fragmentation, and invasive species - while recognising the need to address both climate change and biodiversity crises at the same time. Application of the fund demonstrates the Council’s commitment shown in declaring a climate emergency and the signing of the Edinburgh Declaration and provided an opportunity to deliver on the PK Offer both through community involvement and in making Perth and Kinross a better, greener place. Community Greenspace had a number of projects ready to implement including tree and pollinator friendly planting. Many of these involved In Bloom and other community groups delivering: Planting of a tree corridor on the South Inch and a thousand trees at Perth Crematorium, enhancing the biodiversity value of these important greenspaces. Restoration of the South Inch SUDS pond. Pollinator planting of heathers, wildflowers or snowdrops was carried out in Kinross, Pitlochry, Perth, and Glenfarg, with further planting carried out across the Council area by community groups. The remainder was opened up to community partners to apply for. Successful awards were made to projects including supporting pollinators with wildflower planting, introducing native trees and pollinator friendly gardening in schools, providing homes for wildlife, reinvigorating SUDS ponds for amphibians, implementing innovative surface water measures, giving Biodiversity Towns and Villages a head start, lots of pollinator friendly planting across greenspaces and green graveyards, and plenty of new homes for birds, bats and hedgehogs across towns and schools. A special note should be made of the involvement of teachers, pupils and parent groups in hands on delivery of projects at schools, the Kinross Park and Ride - part of the Kinross Raingardens trail - winner of a Ciria Susdrain SUDS Awards 2022; the delivery of Tayside Biodiversity Partnership’s innovative Biodiversity Towns and Villages Blairgowrie & Rattray and Guildtown; and the wide involvement of schools, In Bloom groups, local wildlife groups and volunteers who helped deliver many of the projects led by the Tayside Biodiversity Partnership and Community Greenspace. Wildflower Raingarden at the Kinross Park & Ride “Without a doubt had it not been for the NRF, Catherine Lloyd and our already hard working local groups coming together, we would still be wondering how to begin our Biodiversity aims. Catherine guided us, the NRF enabled us and our locals got stuck in - a perfect collaboration and a wonderful beginning for our local biodiversity to get the encouragement and nurturing it so richly deserves” Lesley MacDonald, Biodiversity Blairgowrie & Rattray Group APPENDIX 2
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PKC Nature Restoration Fund 2021-22 Report. July 2022. NatureFund@pkc.gov.uk 2 Nature Restoration Fund (NRF)2022/2023 Another year’s funding of £176000 has been awarded to the Council for 2022-2023. The purpose of the fund remains “nature restoration and improving biodiversity on land and in the seas” but there is a greater rural focus in order to address the drivers of biodiversity loss. Community Greenspace and Tayside Biodiversity Partnership will again take forward projects in conjunction with local communities. The rest of the funding will be made available to community led projects with the final split due to be agreed in August 2022. In the meantime, applications are invited across the Council area for capital funding for projects of between £1250 and 12500 to be considered from 31 August. Applications must be submitted by 30 September. To support the PKOffer projects with a strong community element are encouraged. For further information please go to www.pkc.gov.uk/naturefund. 2021-2022 Project List Kinross Raingardens Award winning transformation of the Kinross Park and Ride to introduce a wildflower rich swale to replace the previous poorly functioning infiltration trench. The first year has been a great success, rich in wildflowers with drainage issues solved. Kinross-shire Civic Trust with Kinross In Bloom. Isla Court Bee Wild project. Introduction of wildlife friendly planting that provides food for birds and pollinators throughout the year as well as an enjoyable environment for the residents. Homes for bats, bugs, swifts and other birds were also provided. Tayside Biodiversity with Isla Court Residents and the Unpaid Work team. Letham Early Childhood Centre Biodiversity Project Paved areas enriched with biodiversity planting, along with special provision for birds, bugs and butterflies including a bug hotel and butterfly house. Crieff Primary School Biodiversity Project Outdoor learning area biodiversified with orchard trees, and pollinator friendly climbers, shrubs and plants with hedgerows ready to be planted. Mini wildlife gardens designed by P3 pupils. Fruit shrubs added to the school orchard and the fund supported the planting of trees to create a woodland copse on the playing field boundary. St Madoes Primary School Wild Orchard Project: 85 native trees planted, with an outdoor learning area of native wildflowers, willow dome and mini beast area with resources for children to grow more wildlife friendly plants. Robert Douglas Memorial School Biodiversity Enhancement Enhancing the school grounds for biodiversity to benefit wildlife, children, their education and the environment. An existing mature tree was protected, wildflowers and native trees planted and homes for bees, butterflies, birds and bats introduced Breadalbane Academy playground project Reinvention of greenspace and play area with native trees and flowering shrubs. Friends of Breadalbane Parents Council. Parkdale Sensory Garden Laying of a path for a sensory garden that is being planted to allow residents to interact with nature. Snowdrops for Pollinators Snowdrops provided to community and In Bloom groups across 17 sites Perthshire wide as part of the Tayside Green Graveyard initiative to plant in local graveyards to benefit early emerging bumblebees. Tayside Biodiversity Partnership and numerous community groups.
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PKC Nature Restoration Fund 2021-22 Report. July 2022. NatureFund@pkc.gov.uk 3 Perth Tree Planting 27 semi mature native trees planted at South Inch including the Queens Canopy creating a corridor through the park, and 1000 trees planted at Perth Crematorium enhancing this space as a wildlife refuge and resource. Community Greenspace. Sustainable Planting 400m2 of bulb planting thorughout Perth and Kinross with help from many In Bloom and community groups. Sustainable planting, heather planting, and wildlfower seeding in Kinross, Pitlochry and Perth. And restoration of the South Inch SUDS pond to boost its biodiversity offering. Homes for Wildlife Working with local communities across Perthshire, 24 swift nest boxes, 25 bat roosting boxes, 10 hedgehog hibernacular and 10 tree sparrow nest boxes were installed in the best locations in each area. Tayside Biodiversity Partnership with lots of community Groups. Guildtown Biodiversity Village As part of TBP’s Biodiversity Villages Initiative, Guildtown Biodiversity Group worked with the Ranger to enhance the local park and greenspace with bird and bat boxes, hedgehog homes and planting snowdrops. The local school was given bird and bat boxes for their school grounds. Tayside Biodiversity Partnership with PKC Greenspace Ranger, Guildtown Primary School. Blairgowrie & Rattray Biodiversity Town Blairgowrie and Rattray together established their status as the First Biodiversity Town in Scotland with a wide-ranging community led project planting orchards and native trees, providing homes for bats and hedgehogs, creating a pollinator highway network and a workshop to make and install amphibian ladders where they were needed most. Blairgowrie & Rattray Community Development Trust with help from Blair in Bloom, the Climate Café, and Rotary. Ponds Project Ponds in Perth, Murthly, Rattray, Scone, and Blairgowrie were cleared of vegetation to create open water and improve conditions for toads, frogs and newts, dragonflies, and pollinators; native wildflowers were planted as food for pollinators. Tayside Biodiversity Partnership with TayARG, British Dragonfly Society and local volunteers. Mind the Gap Hedgehog homes and training to locate and monitor the hedgehogs using them were provided to 19 schools across Perth and Kinross along with wildflower seeds and plugplants for schoolchildren to plant to encourage invertebrates and pollinators to help support the hedgehog population to recover. Tayside Biodiversity Partnership. ©Daniele Muir ©S Mitchell