Introduction

Our vision is of a West Midlands where everybody has the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of the natural environment and that, through careful planning and collaboration, we protect, enhance, restore and expand the region’s natural capital to address both the climate and ecological emergencies.

• As part of our delivery on natural capital programmes, we want to ensure the following is achieved:
• Everybody can access high quality green space within a 300m walk of their home.
• Forestry cover should be increased from approximately 1.5% today to 13%, aligning as much as possible with the long-term aims for England (5.7m trees by 2026 and 19m by 2041).
• Creation /restoration of 5 wildlife corridors along the Cole, Rea, Sherbourne, and Blythe and HS2 development in line with our key stakeholder’s priorities.
• All rivers to be restored to good condition by 2030; high quality wildlife corridors along all rivers through West Midlands. Target 5 by 2025, 10 by 2030.
• Support the creation of 200 jobs in natural capital by 2026 (and 700 by 2041), as suggested by the Five Year Plan.