‘Use Brexit to help protect environment’
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MPS in Halton are being urged to use Brexit as an opportunity to protect Cheshire’s environmental interests.
Cheshire Wildlife Trust (CWT) is part of the Greener UK coalition which launched its manifesto on Wednesday, February 22.
The document is calling on the Government to restore and enhance the environment as part of its plans for leaving the European Union (EU).
CWT creates and conserves spaces for wildlife across Halton and manages more than 40 nature reserves with habitats ranging from grasslands and wet meadows to reedbeds, coastal dunes and woodland across Cheshire and parts of Greater Manchester.
The coaltion includes 13 major environmental organisations such as WWF, the National Trust, RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts.
The Greener UK manifesto launch follows a House of Lords report which identified the risk of a vacuum in the oversight and enforcement of environment legislation, and the challenge of effectively maintaining the extensive existing environmental protections ● Halton MPs Graham Evans, left, and Derek Twigg are being urged to use Brexit to make a greener UK a reality through the Repeal Bill.
The Wildlife Trusts chief executive Stephanie Hilborne, said: “We’ve been heartened by the Government’s commitment to transfer EU environmental law into domestic law, though there remain significant unanswered questions about how the UK will replace the enforcement functions currently carried out by EU bodies.
“But if we are to allow for nature’s recovery, we must set our sights higher.
“Now is the time to raise ambition, establishing bold nature goals, better management of land and seas, and innovative environmental policy that can underpin the UK’s new place in the world.
“Being a truly global Britain means building a thriving economy in harmony with solutions to the critical environmental challenges that will define the 21st century.”
The coalition has put forward that Brexit offers the chance for the Government to make a greener UK a reality including securing the benefits of existing environmental laws and principles through the Repeal Bill and ensuring the UK continues to co-operate with the EU on energy and climate change.
It also provides opportunities for the Government to pass a new Environment Act with measurable milestones for environmental restoration, pollution and resource efficiency, and to introduce new policies that create thriving farming and fishing industries.