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Biodiversity Duty Report January 2026 Introduction

Background

The Environment Act 2021 introduced a strengthened ‘biodiversity duty’ requiring all Public Authorities in England to considered what they can do to ‘conserve and enhance biodiversity’. Through the enactment of an amendment to the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2026 Section 40 duty to extend the biodiversity duty on public authorities to include the enhancement of biodiversity in relation to its ‘general biodiversity objective’. Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006.

This biodiversity duty is a legal obligation placed on public authorities which operate in England to consider what can be done across the functions of the authority to conserve and enhance biodiversity.

To comply, Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council as a public authority, has:

  1. Considered what can be undertaken to conserve and enhance biodiversity.
  2. Agreed policies and specific objectives based on this consideration.
  3.  Acted to deliver the policies and achieve these objectives.

Report Compliance with the Biodiversity Duty

Guidance from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on when biodiversity duty reporting needs to be undertaken states:

  • The end date of your first reporting period should be no later than 1 January 2026
  • The end date of each reporting period must be within 5 years of the end of the previous reporting period.
  • You must publish all reports within 12 weeks of the reporting period end date.

This report covers actions taken by Walsall Council to meet the biodiversity duty from the 1st January 2023 to 1st January 2026 and adheres to structure provided by Defra to demonstrate compliance with the biodiversity duty reporting requirements.

Following Defra guidance, the reporting requirement will provide the following:

Section 1: Policies, objectives and actions

  • The policies and objectives set to meet your biodiversity duty
  • Actions completed either alone or in partnership with others that benefit biodiversity

Section 2: Future actions

  • How Walsall Council plans to fulfil the enhanced biodiversity duty over the next five years following the end of this reporting period.

Section 3: Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Information

  • The actions undertaken by Walsall Council to meet BNG obligations
  • Details of BNG resulting from approved biodiversity gain plans
  • How Walsall looks to BNG obligations following the next reporting period.