Following the chancellor's eighth Budget here are responses relating to the environment.

Party Response: Liberal Democrats

Norman Baker MP, Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesman, said:"Once again, Brown has demonstrated that Labour just doesn’t get the environment. This budget picks at the edge, identifying one or two striking issues for the press, but fails to do anything for long-term environmental needs.

"We are still using up our environmental capital faster than ever before. There are no proper incentives to minimise waste or encourage reuse, to rule out new incinerators, or to reduce the relentless growth of traffic. We don’t even have a proper energy strategy.

"We need a new approach to taxation, by introducing an environmental incentive mechanism which makes the polluter pay.

"This budget should have been green, not Brown."

Forum Response: Woodland Trust

A spokesperson for the Woodland Trust said: "Despite claiming to have announced a range of measures protecting the environment, the Chancellor has done little positive in this budget to improve the environmental situation. Accepting the recommendations of the Barker review on housing supply, which proposes extensive new house building does not indicate a sympathetic approach to environmental protection. Ancient woodland is already under extreme pressure from development and increasing house building is only going to add to the problem.

"Sustainable development involves protecting the environment effectively from development to ensure it is there for future generations, not sustaining housing development on green fields and ancient woods.

"We are also disappointed about the lack of action on air travel. There were suggestions earlier in the year that the government may take some limited action as a first step towards managing demand for air travel. However, the Chancellor is freezing Airport Passenger Duty (APD) which in itself is a limited tax. It is vital that we address air travel's growing contribution to climate change as a matter of urgency. If we stand by and watch as our carbon emissions continue to increase we will face even more devastating consequences in the future.

"The lack of action on APD is not offset by any action on the Climate Change Levy which is also frozen and in fact has had exemptions from it extended. Climate change is the biggest threat to our ancient woods and it is essential that ambitious economic instruments are in place if we are to have any chance of reaching the government's own target of a 60 percent cut in carbon emissions by 2050.

"There is little evidence in this budget that the environment lies at the heart of the Treasury's thinking and we are disappointed about the lack of action to ensure that effective protection of our natural resources is achieved."

Forum Response: National Farmers Union