Defend Nature latest and thank you

By Jess Price

Conservation Officer

Sussex Wildlife Trust wants to give a big thank you to all our supporters who have contacted MPs and councillors about the government’s recent attack on nature. It is fantastic to hear how many of you have taken action to express concern and horror at what has unfolded in recent weeks.

The Wildlife Trusts have been working across the country alongside national environmental charities to highlight the threats to nature, with joint efforts including this full-page advert in The Telegraph calling on the Prime Minister to reverse the critical decline of nature.

Here in Sussex, we have written to all local MPs and received a mixed response ranging from shocked recognition and agreement with our concerns, and to do everything they can to defend nature, to frustrated claims that there isn’t really in issue.

We certainly beg to differ with this viewpoint, as the government has had ample opportunity now to put our concerns to rest, but the reality is that at the time of writing they simply have not done this. A lack of clarity about next steps for Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS) to support farmers, coupled with a continued insistence on deregulation, means more questions have been raised than answered.

Many MPs are relying on the new Environment Act to demonstrate that the government is not rolling-back on its commitments to nature. It is indeed world-leading legislation, but if the government wants to have any hope of delivering on its legally binding Environment Act targets and achieve species recovery by 2030, it cannot plan to weaken the environmental protections and the underlying mechanisms by which to achieve them. Our friends at the RSPB used a great analogy to explain this – you might be fully committed to driving to London but if you remove all four wheels and the engine from your vehicle before trying to set off, you won’t be going anywhere. Now is not the time to be dismantling the fundamental framework that exists to protect nature and deliver nature’s recovery.

Here are some examples of why we’re still worried.

• The guidance recently released on Investment Zones says key planning policies will continue to apply for green belt, to protect heritage and for flood risk, highways and other public safety matters - but there is no mention of continued protection of the environment or nature.

• Similarly, the Growth Plan promises that the ‘burden’ of environmental assessments for development will be reduced, with the existing habitats and species regulations reformed – and presumably weakened.

• The Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill only gives until December 2023 for all EU-retained laws to be rewritten or bought into UK law before they are scrapped. Defra has over 570 retained laws on environmental issues, and officials have privately expressed concern about whether such a mountain of legislation can be examined in such a short timeframe. Additionally, it is the relevant Secretary of State who makes all the decisions on this, with no parliamentary scrutiny.

To those MPs that don’t think that we need to be worried, we’re asking them to help us seek the assurances we are looking for – if they are confident there isn’t a problem, then hopefully this should be straightforward for them to do:

• The Retained EU Law Bill will not weaken or remove existing nature protections
• Government will maintain current protections until they are superseded or improved
• New planning legislation and investment zones will ensure net gains to nature
• The Government will implement ELMS and ensure food security and nature restoration go hand in hand.

You can see here which MPs have responded directly to the Sussex Wildlife Trust. We have also written to our County, District and Borough Council Leaders and Environment Portfolio holders. To date, most of those that have replied share our outrage.

Thank you again for your support so far. Our voice is being heard but there’s still a long way to go.