A manifesto for UK wildlife

create a network of wildlife-rich habitat to rival all of our nature reserves put together, I know this won’t happen. I accept that space is at a premium in urban areas, that front gardens are needed to park cars, that a garden office is an attractive option for those without a spare bedroom to work in, that low-maintenance paving, decking and fake lawns save time. I get that, as a nation, we work too hard, we’re tired, stressed and underpaid, and that many of us can’t afford to even think about the possible consequences of actions that make our lives easier.

But if the Government legislates to take away the potential harm of our decision-making, these things wouldn’t be an issue. Need a new fence? “That automatically comes with hedgehog holes, madam.” Buying a new-build house? “Observe the inbuilt swift boxes, sir.” Want to grub up your garden and lay a plastic lawn? “You’ll need planning permission for that.” Not groundbreaking changes, but a huge difference for wildlife.

MY PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE:

1 Planning permission required for the paving, decking and fake-turfing of more than 10 per cent of any garden.

2 Hedgehog holes compulsory in all new fencing.

3 Bird boxes built into all new-build homes, with incentives for retrofitting of nest boxes on older properties.

4 Native shrubs and trees mandatory in municipal planting schemes and new-build gardens.

5 Greater incentives to compost at home, such as free compost bins and reduced council tax bills.

6 Funding made available to keep parks and urban green spaces open.

7. Funding to transform our cities into National Parks.

8 Municipal parks to have a mandatory wildlife-friendly pond and a minimum of 10 per cent given over to wild flower meadows.

9 New-build estates to have a communal pond and wildlife friendly “green spaces”.

10 Areas earmarked for future development to be used as temporary “pop-up” habitats, sown with quick-growing annual flower mixes to provide food for pollinators.

For the full manifesto, visit chrispackham.co.uk/a-peoplesmanifesto-for-wildlife