Dorset County Council agreed to adopt a pollinator action plan at its Cabinet meeting in June 2016.
Crucially its plan includes banning bee-harming neonicotinoid pesticides wherever it can.
Dorset's pollinator action plan proposes other bee-friendly actions. The cutting of hedges and grass verges will be changed to offer more food and shelter for bees. And native wildflowers, trees and shrubs will become more widespread in planting schemes.
Find out more about the role of local authorities in helping bees in Helping Pollinators Locally, a free guide by Friends of the Earth and Buglife.
Dorset joins Devon, which voted to develop a similar plan in April.
It’s brilliant to see action to ban bee-harming neonic pesticides building across the South West. It shows the depth of concern there is in rural and farming communities that our food-growing methods may be unintentionally putting these vital insects at risk.
Mike Birkin, Friends of the Earth