South Tyneside councillors back wildlife-boosting plan as nature reaches tipping point

The issue of biodiversity loss was brought into focus at the most recent meeting of South Tyneside Council at South Shields Town Hall this month (July 24, 2025).

A motion tabled by the council’s Green Group referenced the UK Government being a signatory to COP15, a major international conference which focused on addressing global biodiversity loss, and the associated targets and goals to be achieved by 2030.

This included the target of “effective conservation and management of at least 30 per cent of the world’s lands, inland waters, coastal areas and oceans, with emphasis on areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and services.”

South Tyneside’s Green Party aimed to replicate this target at a local level, seeking support across the council chamber for it to be “integrated into all aspects of council service provision and function”.

This included “considering a commitment to aim towards protecting and managing 30 per cent of council landholdings for nature recovery”, which can include creating new habitats or managing existing ones.

The motion also called for South Tyneside Council to work with neighbouring councils in Gateshead and Sunderland to develop regional plans on the nature recovery agenda, as well as the council working with residents, businesses, education establishments and other partners, and using its “leverage or influence” around procurement and investment, to promote the issue.

A debate on the issue was launched last week by Green Party councillor Nicky Gynn and was later passed unanimously by South Tyneside councillors across the political spectrum.

Cllr Gynn said wildlife had “diminished at an extraordinary rate” in recent decades, with many species at risk of extinction, and noted there is a “tipping point for nature” when “ecosystems collapse due to the use of pesticides and the loss of natural habitats”.

“Without our insects many of our vegetables and most of our fruits would be off the menu, and we would no longer have clothes made of cotton or linen, and also remember that plants have created the very air we breathe,” she added.

“We can all play a part in protecting the wild places we still have and creating more spaces for plants and animals to thrive, we must act now by putting our wildlife and their habitats first before it is lost forever.”

Green Party councillor Rachael Taylor, while acknowledging South Tyneside Council’s existing work around nature recovery and biodiversity gains, said it was “possible and necessary to do more”.

The councillor noted South Tyneside falls within one of “most deprived” areas of England and that, in the context of tree coverage, pollution levels and access to green space, nature recovery was a “social justice issue”.

Cllr Taylor added neighbourhood plans in South Tyneside were an opportunity to “empower local communities to ensure those plans are nature positive”, along with the council “using its influence wisely” to create more green jobs, improve public health and attract sustainable investment.

“The UN says we have until 2030 to reverse biodiversity loss, this isn’t a future crisis, it’s happening now,” she added.

Councillor Ernest Gibson, South Tyneside Council’s cabinet member for neighbourhoods and climate change, defended the council’s record on the issue and noted ongoing partnership work, including work with neighbouring councils, around nature recovery.

The Labour councillor said it was important for everyone to “work together” on the issue, along with education, “doing the right thing” and looking at the council’s strategies and planning policies.

“We’re only a small borough but we’re hitting above our weight around climate change and we’re working in partnership with other authorities to make this happen and also the combined authorities are looking at many other factors, so that is another way forward,” Cllr Gibson added.

Councillor Joan Hamilton, of The REAL Independent Councillors group, said the UK Government’s commitments under COP 15 around nature recovery were “commendable aims” and “morally important”.

However, Cllr Hamilton said Green Belt land being earmarked for housing developments and solar farms was a “contradiction that cannot be ignored”.

“If we’re serious about protecting 30 per cent of land for nature, how can we justify consuming some of the most ecologically valuable and biodiverse landscapes for development when other less damaging alternatives [brownfield sites] exist,” she added.

“We cannot promote biodiversity on one hand while diminishing it with the other. I’m not opposed to building homes, nor to renewable energy infrastructure, but we must ask at what cost, and in what places.”

Labour councillor Geraldine Kilgour said the “valid opportunity” to raise comments and concerns about land use in South Tyneside was during the recent public hearings looking at the council’s emerging local plan, which “feeds into Government legislation.”

Green Party councillor Nicky Gynn, closing the debate, said it was important to promote nature recovery and “bring all the residents along with us”.

“We need to show them what they can do, and teach them if they need teaching, how to rewild and how to make their gardens or their environment as nature-friendly as possible,” she added.

The full council meeting was broadcast live and is available to view via South Tyneside Council’s YouTube channel.