Is The Government's New Environmental Watchdog Teething Or Toothless?

29 October 2007

Natural England has made progress but has a lot to do to show it can really do its job to protect our precious landscapes and wildlife.

This is the verdict of a report [1] by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) [2] issued one year on from the launch of Natural England, examining the work of the new agency in its first twelve months.

Encouraging findings include:

• signs that green payments for farmers to manage their land to protect landscape features and wildlife habitat are working well after a difficult period of uncertainty. [3]
• Natural England is working hard to link health policy with its own work to protect and enhance the quality of the natural environment. This includes official recognition of CPRE’s pioneering work on tranquillity. [4]

But areas of concern include:

• planning policy and the Green Belt where there are worrying signs that Natural England’s strategic direction is not yet getting to grips with the threats to our precious countryside. [5]
• over mitigation of climate change, where having a target to facilitate renewable energy investment could undermine Natural England’s statutory duties to protect landscape and wildlife. [6]

Tom Oliver, Head of Rural Policy at CPRE said:

‘Natural England has a crucial role in standing up for the beauty of our landscape and the health of our wildlife. But CPRE is yet to be convinced that the new agency will be effective in engaging with the powerful threat of a weakened planning system and mounting pressure for overdevelopment beyond environmental capacity. There is also a risk that we seriously harm magnificent and wild places with renewable energy infrastructure in the name of saving them from climate change.’

Across the country, there is welcome evidence that Natural England is building good working relationships with CPRE and other environmental organisations. This needs to continue, especially at a regional level, where more and more development decisions are being made.

Tom Oliver continued:

‘The potential damage to the natural environment from climate change and relentless development requires decisive action. Natural England’s call to give more attention to adapting our habitats and landscapes to a changing climate is very welcome. But the agency should also fight for a strong planning system to keep development within environmental limits and prevent the further industrialisation and fragmentation of our world-renowned countryside.’

CPRE suggests the following key priorities for Natural England:

• reinforce support for the Green Belt and recognise planning as the main means of securing development within environmental capacity;
• keep up the pressure for expansion of agri-environment schemes and the long term future for their funding;
• make the landscape case strongly to Government and energy providers to prevent renewable energy infrastructure seriously damaging valued landscapes.

‘Only Natural England has the status and potential to ensure the protection and enhancement of the countryside. We will do what we can to help the new agency succeed in this vital work,’ Tom Oliver concluded.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. CPRE consulted its regional groups and county branches on the performance of Natural England during its first year. A short report summarising the main findings, together with analysis by CPRE National Office, is published today, Monday 29 October. Copies of the report – Natural England One Year On – are available from CPRE’s media centre: www.cpre.org.uk/news/media-centre (login – all lower case: user name; media, password: journalist) or from the press office on 020 7981 2880.

2. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen.

3. Natural England helped to secure £2.9bn of funding for agri-environment schemes during 2006. 30,000 Countryside Stewardship Scheme and Environmentally Sensitive Area agreements, worth over £140m, were paid one month ahead of an agreed deadline.

4. In 2006, Natural England pursued joint working with the Department of Health and announced that CPRE’s tranquillity maps and methodology would henceforward be part of the regular Countryside Quality Counts report on change in the quality of the countryside.

5. A recent Pre-scoping paper on Principles: Natural England’s Policy Position on Housing Growth and Green Infrastructure questioned the role of the Green Belt in the future of planning policy and appeared to accept long term housing projections by the Government as a basis for planning policy on housing.

6. With reference to climate change policy, Natural England’s Strategic Direction includes a target to ‘facilitate investment in the generation of clean energy’.

---

Press releases, papers and documents published on this page are the intellectual property of an organisation unrelated to Central Lobby. We promote their parliamentary and political campaigning activities as they are subscribers to the Central Lobby service.

As such, Central Lobby does not edit, endorse, or attempt to balance the opinions expressed on this page. The content of press releases and other such types of content are the responsibility of the originating organisation.