Biodiversity

Complying with the Biodiversity Duty

The Environment Act 2021 introduced a new biodiversity duty. This means all public authorities in England must think about how they can help to protect and improve nature.

For Oldham Council, this duty means we need to:

  • Look at what we can do to conserve and enhance local biodiversity.
  • Set policies and clear objectives based on those ideas.
  • Take action to put those policies into practice.

In December 2023, we published our first report setting out the actions we were considering:

Then in March 2025, we agreed our official policies and objectives:

Sites of Biological Interest

Sites of Biological Importance, or SBIs, are areas that have been identified as being of importance for species and habitats. They are part of a national suite of sites also known as Local Wildlife Sites (LWS) and are selected based on their ecological value.

The Greater Manchester Ecology Unit (GMEU) runs the SBI Register for, and on behalf of, the ten Greater Manchester Local Authorities.