Lake District may be part of rewilding plan

BORIS JOHNSON’S pledge to restore a third of the country to nature could see the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales rewilded, Natural England has suggested.

Conservation groups have argued that although 26 per cent of England is technically “protected for nature”, these areas are not sufficiently biodiverse and actually contain less trees and nature than some of our cities.

The five-year plan for Natural England promises to make our national parks “richer in wildlife”, and sources at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have suggested this includes radically changing the landscape of the most famous national parks.

Because of practices such as sheep grazing and grouse shooting, many of our parks, especially those in the uplands, have much less tree cover than they would naturally.

Tony Juniper, the head of Natural England, has called for rewilding and made “nature recovery” a key campaigning issue in his role. This includes restoring peatlands and tree cover in our National Parks, and reintroducing species that are extinct in Britain.

Nature charities also have been lobbying the Government to change the landscapes in our National Parks.

Craig Bennett, the chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, told The Telegraph: “National Parks look green, but I’m afraid they’re mostly over-grazed farmland that’s of little value to wildlife. We’ve forgotten what wild land really looks like – sheep-grazed hills bereft of varied habitat is not it.

“The Government really shouldn’t try to pretend that National Parks count as protected areas for nature – if it is serious about reaching 30 per cent of land for nature by 2030, it needs to recognise that only 10 per cent of land is protected for nature as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and, worse still, about half of this is in poor condition.

“National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty make up about a quarter of England’s land and so it’s right that they should be places where nature can recover as well as providing great habitat for carbon storage.

“National Parks should have nature’s recovery at their heart – there should be a duty to enhance wildlife within their boundaries and this should be fully funded by government.”

Martin Harper, the head of conservation at the RSPB, has also called for an overhaul of National Parks.