After years of campaigning and DIY action we have finally succeeded in forcing the Council to appoint a biodiversity officer. One of the problems in persuading the Council not to do daft things, or even to do good things, has been the absence of anyone with any understanding of ecology in both the parks department and planning. It is around 20 years since the Council employed an ecologist! Whilst the appointment of an experienced biodiversity officer (Kate Mitchell) will not put an end to bad planning decisions or parks faux pars it does offer hope that in future major projects like the Clissold lottery works will be a lot more bioD wise. This appointment and related new officers in parks (Head of Parks – John Wade, and Parks Development officers – Sam Parry, Bruce Irving and Eleanor Johnson) results largely from huge embarrassment caused when Hackney Parks Forum (HPF is the independent voice of park user groups) appeared at the Council's Scrutiny Committee 2 years ago and identified major gaps in LBH environmental cover (e.g. Hackney is one of only 2 London Councils still without a Biodiversity Action Plan). Considerable work is done in the borough to protect and improve biodiversity but this is almost exclusively led by volunteers and is frequently undermined by bad council decision making and practise. Do not expect everything to change over night but not only is there hope for a better biodiversity future this appointment proves we can make a difference even inside the Council bureaucracy.