Write to your decision-makers

I’m writing to ask you to take action to protect bumblebees.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s work is vital because pollinators, especially bumblebees, are crucial to our ability to produce healthy, affordable food in the UK, and 90% of wild plants depend on them to reproduce. Our landscape would be unrecognisable without them.

I’m really concerned that bumblebee populations have crashed over the past century – since 1940, two have become extinct and several others are declining dramatically. But local authorities are in a unique position to help reverse this, and many of the actions needed would save money or be cost-neutral.

Would you be willing to work with other councillors to make our council area a place where bumblebees thrive? Here’s what would make the most difference:

🌼 Create flower-rich habitats. The loss of 97% of flower-rich grasslands in the UK since WW2 is a major reason for bumblebee decline. But simple changes to the way public spaces and parks are managed can make a huge difference. They can even save money. Flower-rich grassland locks up carbon too (more per hectare than some types of woodland) and mitigates against both drought and flooding, so this is a huge win for the climate.

🌻Turn public parks and roadside verges into pollinator havens. More and more councils, including Orkney Islands, Burnley and Denbighshire, are successfully reducing mowing and allowing wildflowers to flourish, while still keeping areas of grass short where needed for safety or recreation. This approach has saved Dorset Council over £200k per annum.

🌻Switch to bee-friendly amenity planting. Shrub and tree planting can use flowering species that benefit pollinators. Swopping annual bedding plants with limited value for pollinators, for more sustainable, pollinator-friendly perennial plants that come back year after year, saved Burnley Council over £28k per annum.

🚫 Phase out the use of pesticides. Many councils, including Lambeth and Cambridge City, have opted to go pesticide-free, successfully using other weed control methods. Many others have reduced their use – for example, Vale of Glamorgan Council has stopped spraying its public parks.

🐝 Make pollinator action a strategic priority. Councils throughout the UK, such as Glasgow City, Kent and Blaenau Gwent, have Pollinator Action Plans – these embed pollinator-friendly action across all the council’s work. Pollinators should be a central feature of nature and climate policies – particularly given the potential for flower-rich grasslands to sequester carbon and mitigate against both drought and flooding.

I believe supporting bumblebees is a win-win for people, nature, and the climate. I urge you to make pollinator protection a strategic priority for our council. Could you please confirm what steps the council is currently taking to support pollinators, and whether you will commit to implementing the actions outlined above? Your leadership could make a real difference in reversing pollinator decline and creating a healthier, more resilient environment for us all.

Kind regards,

[YOUR FULL NAME AND POSTCODE]

Email Subject: Urgent action needed for bumblebees

[YOUR ADDRESS AND POSTCODE]

As my elected representative, I’m asking you to take urgent action to help reverse the decline of bumblebees in the UK. Pollinators, especially bumblebees, are vital to our food security, biodiversity, and economy – contributing over £600 million annually through pollination services. Their role in sustaining wild plant populations also underpins entire ecosystems.

Yet bumblebee populations have crashed over the past century, with two species now extinct and several others in steep decline. This crisis demands coordinated government intervention. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s Manifesto for Bumblebees outlines practical, evidence-based actions that can make a real difference:

1. Prioritise pollinators, not pesticides
   Phase out pesticide use in domestic and urban settings and support farmers to meet ambitious and binding reduction targets in agriculture.
2. Put flower-rich habitats back on the map
   Ensure pollinator-friendly action is embedded in all land use policies from sustainable farming and land management schemes to planning policy.
3. Targeted support for rare species
   Provide funding for research and monitoring of all bumblebees, and for conservation management for our rarest species.
4. Go further, faster to tackle climate change
   Ramp up action on climate change and implement a strategy to restore and recreate flower-rich grasslands across the UK. These habitats lock up carbon, mitigate against climate impacts and allow bumblebees and other wildlife to thrive.
5. Better regulate the use of managed bees
   Honeybees and commercially-reared bumblebees pose risks to wild pollinators by competing for resources and spreading disease.

Will you support the recommendations in the manifesto and champion stronger pollinator protection across relevant policy areas – including agriculture, land use, and climate adaptation? Your support could help secure a future where bumblebees thrive and their essential ecological services are safeguarded.

For further information, I encourage you to contact the Bumblebee Conservation Trust team.

Kind regards,

[YOUR FULL NAME]