West Midlands nature and community projects to receive funding

Funding donated by Axil Integrated Services Ltd will help projects in the West Midlands.

The funding, as outlined in the below projects, will improve local nature areas, protect local wildlife and provide more opportunities for people to volunteer in nature.

Emma Johnson, deputy director, Natural England, said:

We know that nature recovery needs partnerships working at a large scale. By donating to the Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project Partnership, Axil Integrated Services have not just benefited one organisation, but several.

Donations like this make a real difference on the ground, for species and for people to feel the health and wellbeing benefits of nature. Private sector funding is a real enabler.

Dr Mark Pennington, Axil's EQHS director, said,

The community we work within and our commitment to environmental stewardship are incredibly important to us. It's great to see the funding being used for projects that will improve access to nature, promote education, and provide lasting benefits for all.

Birmingham & The Black Country Wildlife Trust

The trust will put funding towards further enhancing the habitat within Turner's Wood, its nature reserve in Walsall.

Plans include:

• planting native woodland ground-flora, including shrubs, climbers, and wildflowers, all grown from local seeds and cuttings
• managing mature trees more closely and making the woodland safer for visitors
• establishing a Friends group and equipping them with tools and training to help manage the site for wildlife over the coming years.

For more see Turner's Wood: Community Management Group and Woodland Improvement Project

The trust will also use funding to protect nature between Bloxwich and Pelsall and increase opportunities for local people to share their views.

Its key objective is to identify sites that could achieve a recognised designation. These include a Site of Local Importance to Nature Conservation (SLINCs) or Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs). The trust will also ask local people how they think this landscape could be improved to provide more opportunities for people to connect with nature.

To achieve this the trust will:

• produce a report on habitat, species, and sites of conservation importance by carrying out local site assessments to help guide the protection of sites that are important for nature
• run engagement events and wildlife walks so that local people can find out more about the species and habitats on their doorstep
• produce a map of local green space and access routes for residents to use
• talk about nature recovery priorities with local councils, businesses and community groups

For more see Unlocking Nature's Recovery Between Pelsall and Bloxwich

Dr Delia Garratt, CEO of Birmingham & the Black Country Wildlife Trust, said:

This donation will help us at Birmingham and the Black Country Wildlife Trust expand our work across Walsall, continuing to mobilise the diverse communities in the Purple Horizons area for nature recovery.

By 2030 we want to see 30% of our landscape protected for the benefit of wildlife. Our new work around Bloxwich and Pelsall will enable us to be led jointly by community voices and ecology to identify local sites that, with the right management and protection, could become highly valued sites for nature and people.

Walsall Council

Walsall Council will use this funding to help develop its Corporate Social Responsibility work with local businesses.

This has benefits for those managing green spaces, and businesses and people who want to volunteer their services. For example:

• volunteers from any background who can get to know and understand new areas of green space, including those from under-represented groups who do not traditionally visit or access local green spaces.

• larger groups of supervised volunteers to tackle jobs too difficult for land owners without support like scrub removal from heathland, cutting back encroaching vegetation from paths to make them accessible, keeping bare ground free from vegetation and managing species-rich grassland in small areas

The funding will go towards hand tools for volunteers, including mattocks, loppers, gloves, forks and hay rakes.

Councillor Gary Flint, cabinet member for health and wellbeing at Walsall Council, said:

Our volunteers already do an amazing job in giving back to their green spaces by assisting in maintaining and improving access for visitors and habitats for wildlife. This additional resource is very much welcomed.

For more see Tools for Volunteer Groups

Staffordshire County Council

This funding will allow staff to undertake research into the wildlife of Chasewater Country Park and surrounding habitats. This will give us an indication of the health of wetland ecosystems.

The project will:

• develop plans for enhancing habitats on land owned by Staffordshire County Council
• produce a new information board to help local communities learn more about local wildlife
• undertake bird ringing demonstrations (where birds are caught and information about them is recorded) and promote opportunities for people to volunteer in nature

Victoria Wilson, cabinet member for culture and communities, said:

Our country parks provide great spaces for nature as well as people. This funding will help us discover more about the birds and other wildlife of Chasewater, and how we can enhance the wetland habitats they depend on.

For more see Chasewater Country Park

Future projects

Natural England will call for further projects in spring 2025, with a particular focus on projects that:

• enable communities to take actions to save their local green space and wildlife and connect more with nature
• fill an existing gap and engage new and diverse audiences

Enforcement Undertaking (EU)

An EU is a voluntary offer made by companies and individuals and can be accepted where the Environment Agency has reason to believe an offence has been committed. It usually includes a payment to an environmental charity to carry out improvements.

Axil Integrated Services Ltd offered £100,000 to a local wildlife project following a fire at their Cannock site in 2022. This was an intense but short-lived fire. The water used to put out the fire was contaminated but was contained on the site and removed.

Since then, the Environment Agency has worked with the waste operator, Axil Integrated Services, to agree remedial works. Environment Agency officers report that the company co-operated fully following the incident. They submitted a full incident report and statements admitting their failures within two days and carrying out repair work.

Following the remedial works and receipt of reports, the Environment Agency and Axil agreed an Enforcement Undertaking under which the Axil offered a donation to Purple Horizons of £100,000.

Purple Horizons

The £100,000 offered by Axil was donated to the Purple Horizons Nature Recovery ProjectIt is one of 12 nature recovery projects across England.

Purple Horizons extends across 12,000 ha on the fringes of the West Midlands conurbation, It is creating a nature-rich corridor between Cannock Chase Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Sutton Park National Nature Reserve (NNR). This will help the area's reptiles, birds and pollinators.