biodiversity

April 8, 2026

Vale of White Horse District Council has published a new biodiversity report. This is the first time the council has put together such a document which depicts the natural highlights in the district, including the largest surviving example of alkaline fen in central England at Cothill and an increasing water vole population in the River Ock. The report also sets out the council’s actions to conserve and enhance the area’s natural world.

June 26, 2025

Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire district councils are in the top ten performing district councils in the country for taking action on climate and nature recovery, according to research by an environmental organisation. Both councils, which have just published their new joint nature and climate action plan, were rated in the top ten […]

April 3, 2025

Visitors to meadow areas across the district will be better informed thanks to a series of tailor-made wooden signposts recently installed by the Vale of White Horse District Council at its green spaces. 

February 14, 2024

Biodiversity Net Gain– which came into law nationally on 12 February 2024 – is not a new concept for the councils, whose officers have been working on similar approaches to enhancing the wildlife value of new developments since becoming the first authorities in the UK to successfully secure a BNG agreement in 2013.

March 8, 2023

The councils have launched a new nature recovery project called Let It Bee which aims to increase biodiversity on council land by allowing wildflowers and plants to grow on specific sites.

February 23, 2021

South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse District Councils have helped raise more than £240,000 for great crested newt habitats.  The funds have been raised over three years through an ongoing, innovative conservation scheme to protect the newts, which are a European protected species.   The councils have a Natural England licence allowing them […]