Another success for Animal Welfare Party in the UK


26 februari 2019

Last week, Animal Welfare Party in the United Kingdom again achieved local success. Thanks to Jane Smith, Animal Welfare Party councillor, the town of Alsager will work with a robust pollinator strategy to help pollinating insects and improve the natural environment. Pollinators like bees and butterflies are vital to our food supply, but are currently under serious threat.

The pollinator strategy is called ‘Let’s Get Alsager Buzzing’ and was passed unanimously by the Alsager Town Council, thanks to efforts of Animal Welfare Party councillor Jane Smith.

Alsager – a town in north-western England- will be the first town in the region to design and deliver its own robust pollination action plan. This means that Alsager will be leading the way locally by developing and implementing its own stand-alone pollination action plan, creating wildflower meadows across Alsager as well as working with local schools on planting projects and incorporating insect life into the schools’ curricula.

In addition, the town council has agreed to pollinator-friendly longer grass verges across the town to encourage wildflowers and insect life, instead of verges being mown severely.


The pollinator beds in Alsager, a project by Alsager Urban Wildlife Initiative and championed by Animal Welfare Party locally

Jane says: “In Alsager we’ll now be taking matters into our own hands with our very own town-level pollinator strategy. I’m so proud to be part of a local community that includes wonderful groups who can deliver this type of essential work voluntarily. It’s a pity that they have to, but we’re so lucky that they can.

It’s another ‘first’ for our town, and we hope that other towns across the UK will follow suit – we’ll certainly be happy to share information and ideas, as we’ve already done with our hedgehog tunnels stipulation passed last year, which has seen over 30 other councils wanting to follow suit and requesting information from us.

The pollinator action plan is great news for Alsager’s people and Alsager’s wildlife, and I hope others observe and learn from those people in Alsager who understand the importance of pollinating insects, which simply can’t be over-estimated.

It’s also another example of just what can be achieved by animal parties at the most local level – pollinators, vitally important as they are, just don’t figure as a priority for other parties, whereas we understand the interconnected nature of all species and act accordingly. It’s another fantastic local success for Animal Welfare Party in the UK.”

Pollinators are important contributors to world food production, so their health is directly linked to the well-being of humans and other animals. There are more than 20,000 species of wild bees alone, plus for example many species of butterflies, flies, moths and wasps, that contribute to pollination.