Nature has been demoted, claims countryside charity
The government has been accused by the Campaign to Protect Rural England of ‘levelling down nature’ in its new strategy.
Professor Dan Osborn, chair of the countryside charity’s Sussex branch, believed the levelling up blueprint announced by Michael Gove has a ‘gaping hole at its heart that means it won’t deliver what it could have’. And this omission might mean the initiative is ‘doomed to failure’.
He said: “All our health and wealth comes from the resources that are found in the natural world. These resources are scarce because they all come from just one planet, Earth.
“So why is this natural capital omitted from the foundation list of what needs to be accounted for when levelling up?
“If we continue to omit nature from the way we make plans and decisions, and just base those plans and decisions on the oldfashioned economics that have got us into the mess we are in at present – with climate change and water supplies etc – then we will continue to take bites out of nature and nature will bite back harder and harder. So, a levelling up course correction is needed, and fast.”
Professor Osborn pointed to a belated minor mention of natural capital late on in the White Paper, suggesting ‘demoting nature looks like a choice and not a mistake’.
He added: “This is no way to deal with climate change or water issues and no way to plan for the future.
“Natural capital and the services like food and water we get from ecosystems is supposed to be part of the thinking of all government departments. Why? Because it will help make more sustainable decisions as part of the government commitment to the 25-year Environment Plan.
“The trouble is that all too often old-style economic factors dominate. Social matters – like supplying truly affordable homes for local people – and environmental matters – such as ensuring there is enough water for nature, people, farming and business – often seem not to feature in decisionmaking at all. Nature’s capital must be just as much part of decisions as other kinds of capital drawn on to investment in the future.
“Does any of this matter to Sussex? Well yes it does, because the government department that is setting the levelling up agenda is the same one that determines housing numbers, will have oversight of what seem like the increasingly odd plans to expand Gatwick and that has the last word on planning applications and how much money developers pay towards our social and environmental infrastructure such as schools and enhanced biodiversity.
“And all of this downgrading of the natural world comes at a time when the new Environment Bill’s provisions to protect and enhance the environment face delays in being enacted and when hardpressed local authorities seem to have no resources to implement them. As Mr Gove said when he launched the 25 year Environment Plan: ‘So, protecting and enhancing the environment …. is about more than respecting nature. It is critical if the next generation is to flourish, with abundant natural resources to draw on, that we look after our and their inheritance wisely’.
“Maybe, that same Mr Gove can correct the serious omission of nature from the foundations of his levelling up plan that his current department have just issued? We cannot on any basis have our environment deteriorate any further.”
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has criticised the White Paper for overlooking the needs of rural communities. CLA South East, which represents thousands of farmers, landowners and rural businesses across the region, argued the plans risked the divide with urban areas becoming even bigger.
Policies favoured by the CLA include a planning regime that allows disused buildings to be converted into modern workspaces, allowing small scale developments in rural communities, simplifying the tax system, making the current VAT rate for tourism business permanent and speeding up the delivery of gigabit broadband and 4G.