Action gets under way to improve vital wildlife habitats in Sheffield

The Species Survival Shire Brook Valley project will focus on green and blue spaces – such as woodland, meadows, heathland, ponds, rivers and streams – helping to tackle nature and climate emergencies.

It will help to improve the habitats of harvest mice, bats and hedgehogs, as well as barn owls, skylarks, swifts and kingfishers.

Habitat improvements are proposed for Shire Brook Valley nature reserve, Beighton Marsh, Woodhouse Washlands, Wickfield Heath and Plantation, Richmond Park and Silkstone Ravine, according to the council’s news service SheffNews.

A meeting of Sheffield Council’s finance committee this week (April 16) approved spending of £65,000 for a feasibility study into improving the sites to aid species survival.

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A report to the committee said that the council has acted as the lead applicant in an application to the government’s DEFRA Species Survival Fund, which granted £1,112,200 to Sheffield.

The council has gone into partnership with Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, Woodhouse and District Community Forum, Sheffield Hallam University and the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre.

An external ecology consultant will be taken on as a first step to carry out a feasibility study and make full ecological assessments.

The committee also approved feasibility studies into renewable energy schemes at two city schools, Mundella Primary in Norton Lees and Norton Primary.

A total of £17,600 of Local Renewable Energy Funding will establish the possibility of installing solar energy panels at both schools.

Condition surveys and structural assessments will take place on roof structures, ceilings and electrical installations.