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Biodiversity Duty Report January 2026

About Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council

Walsall Council is a Metropolitan Borough Authority covering Walsall, an area of 40 square miles. It lies within the West Midlands Combined Authority and National Character Area (No. 67) Cannock Chase and Cank Wood.

The borough encompasses a diverse landscape, including public parks, green belt, designated nature conservation sites and agricultural land, while remaining urban in character. In addition, the borough has a legacy of despoiled land resulting from its industrial heritage.

The area covered by Walsall Council contains numerous statutory and non-statutory designated sites including Cannock Extension Canal Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) including Jockey Fields, Clayhanger Common and Swan Pool and the Swag. These sites alongside others within the borough offer ecological valuable habitat and ecological links for both priority and protected fauna and flora.

Walsall Council’s overriding purpose is to deliver our vision and ambitions outlined within We are Walsall 2040 plan.

Walsall Council is responsible for delivering a broad range of public services and borough wide projects, including:

  • Essential Service Delivery: includes education, public health, waste management, parks, libraries and housing.
  • Local Planning Authority: Walsall Council implements development management decisions on planning applications within the borough. The planning service includes a Principal Ecology Officer and Planning Policy Officer that reviews the ecological aspects of local plan policies and guidance and planning applications. During the reporting period – 1,108 planning consultations were referred to the ecological consultees. Walsall Council acts as the minerals planning authority to determining planning decisions on policy, planning decisions and land banks.
  • Strategic Planning: Walsall Council produces and implements the Local Plan, and other strategic plans such as the Climate Change Strategy, alongside other transformational programmes and projects.
  • Walsall Council under its statutory duties monitors biodiversity, enforces planning policies and decision and contributes to nature recovery through the management and enhancement of itself parks and green space.
  • Walsall Council manages and maintains 790ha of Walsall Borough as parks, woodland, allotments or other green spaces.