Taking stock

I read James Fair’s wellbalanced report (Nature by numbers, February 2021) with great interest, but feel it necessary to add four points.

First, we should not automatically accept the target of 300,000 new houses per year. The costs of the pandemic have not been fully assessed – we may end up with closed hotels and empty office-blocks, suitable for conversion to affordable homes.

Second, we risk thinking that we are rather clever – we “can establish tracts of land (habitat banks) that will be pre-prepared as development offsets”. Being ‘clever’ has landed us in our current dire situation.

Third, we must retain humility in the face of nature – places such as Gavray Meadows in Oxfordshire (mentioned in the article) are not replaceable. We might achieve a location with some of their features, but nothing more.

Fourth, if Gavray Meadows is threatened, then Natural England is not doing its job properly. The prime minister claims green credentials – he should put our money where his mouth is.

Robin Noble, via email

QUIZ ANSWERS 1B, 2A, 3C, 4B, 5C, 6A