Two years of our Biodiversity Pathway: what changes when you stop mowing

Two years ago we published our Biodiversity Pathway, a plan running to 2030 to make our green spaces better for wildlife and better for the people who live around them. It was written with residents, colleagues and external partners rather than for them.

The headline commitment is to promote nature recovery across 12% of our land portfolio: woodland, grass and shrub areas, green roofs and waterways, covering around 150 hectares. That is roughly 370 acres, or a little over 200 football pitches.

But a strategy document is not a habitat. The interesting question at the two-year mark is what has actually changed on the ground, and the answer is mostly in the hands of our estate teams.

Small decisions, repeated across hundreds of sites

At Jubilee Court, areas of regularly mown grass became wildflower spaces. Bird boxes and insect habitats went in, and the maintenance regime for the area was reviewed so the change would last. On the Isle of Wight, the team reduced mowing frequency around a redundant play area and planted native trees and whips, letting wildflowers and shrub vegetation establish where the mower used to pass.

Across our South London estates, the work has meant identifying the right spots for wildflower planting, installing bat and bird boxes, putting in lavender and other pollinator-friendly species, and replacing trees removed for safety reasons with native species so canopy cover and ecological value are not lost.

None of that is dramatic. That is rather the point. As Anna, one of our estate managers, puts it, small changes have a bigger impact than people expect, and something as simple as adjusting a mowing schedule can create a valuable habitat.

The tidiness problem

There is an obvious tension in this work that is worth naming. A wildflower meadow in July looks glorious. In April it can look like grass nobody has bothered to cut. Residents are entitled to green space that feels cared for, safe and usable, and "we are rewilding it" is not much of an answer to someone who thinks their estate has been abandoned.

So the practical work is as much about communication as ecology. Wild seeding areas are agreed with housing management before they are designated. Informative signage goes up so residents know an area is deliberate and can see what it is for. Michael, who manages estates in South London, describes the aim as balancing environmental responsibility with the quality and appearance of the landscaped environment, because both matter to the people living there.

Get that right and the benefits run in both directions. More attractive communal green space draws people outdoors, and that feeds gardening clubs, community allotments and local environmental projects, which in turn build a stronger sense of ownership over a shared space. Our residents' allotment projects have been winning Green Flag awards on that basis.

What happens next

The pathway runs to 2030, which is four years away. The work from here is less about launching things and more about the unglamorous business of maintaining them, measuring what has changed and being straight about where progress is slower than we would like.

For the estate teams, the shift has also been a working one. Johnathon, on the Isle of Wight, notes that the pathway has meant building closer relationships across the business, particularly with housing teams. Biodiversity turns out to be less a specialism than a way of doing an existing job slightly differently, several hundred times over.

Our Biodiversity Pathway to 2030 is available to read in full on our website.