Shaftesbury becomes country’s first Nature Friendly Town

DCAN member Shaftesbury Town Council last week declared Shaftesbury England’s first Nature Friendly Town (NFT) following a recommendation from Sustainable Shaftesbury.

Expert environmental, ecological and horticultural members of Sustainable Shaftesbury worked for six months to produce a framework it hopes could become a blueprint for other towns and villages in Dorset with the support of Dorset Wildlife Trust who are following the initiative.

The town council has previously adopted a number of nature friendly recommendations from Sustainable Shaftesbury including policies to promote tree-planting, wildflowers, allotments and nature-friendly management plans for the town’s open spaces.

This was followed by another recent declaration to make the hilltop town an official Orchard Town by planting free-to-pick fruit and nut trees in all the council’s open spaces and recreation areas. It also hopes to persuade housing developers to do the same in the town’s new developments in place of ornamental planting.

Sustainable Shaftesbury - responsible for a seven-year action plan to combat climate change and nature loss adopted by the town council in 2024 - is now hoping to persuade landowners to help it create a developer-free ‘Green Ring’ around the town with designated ‘wildlife corridors’ connecting the town centre with the surrounding countryside.

‘The organisers of the third Dorset COP in November have asked us to tell everyone a bit more about what we do and how we work with the town council and we’re only too happy to do so,’ said chair Richard Thomas. ‘Meanwhile we’d be just as happy to hear from anyone who wants more details before then.’

Note: Sustainable Shaftesbury Advisory Committee (SuSAC) is a formal committee of Shaftesbury Town Council run entirely by volunteer members of the community. More details are at https://www.shaftesbury-tc.gov.uk/sustainable-shaftesbury/