Is the Government refusing to listen or does Natural England need to turn up the volume? This is the question the Campaign to Protect Rural England [1] is asking, two years after the Government’s official adviser on landscape and wildlife was set up.

Across a range of policy areas, the Government appears uninterested in hearing about the importance of the natural environment, the core business of Natural England. This is despite earlier Ministerial aspirations that the body would be a ‘powerful and independent’ voice for the natural environment. [2]

‘On aviation and airports, road building, renewable energy and the planning process, government policy appears to be giving too little weight to Natural England’s advice,’ said Tom Oliver, Head of Rural Policy at CPRE.

In particular:

• Aviation: the Government’s recent decision to expand the number of fights from Stansted [3] will inflict additional pollution and noise on the surrounding population and countryside, including the unique and beautiful medieval Hatfield Forest. 

• Road building: the Department for Transport continues to pump huge sums of public money into a programme of road schemes [4], which would shatter the tranquillity of the countryside, destroy valuable wildlife habitat and make carbon reduction targets more distant than ever.

• Renewable energy: Natural England’s response to the Government’s draft Renewable Energy Strategy [5] rightly questions the assumption by the former Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory reform (BERR) that protection of the natural environment is an obstacle to action on climate change. Natural England also challenges the Government to look beyond a narrow policy or reliance on large amounts of onshore wind energy. We hope that Ed Miliband, the new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, will heed this advice.

• Planning: with the Planning Bill, which threatens to reduce the influence of local authorities and the people who elect them, it is less clear whether Natural England is briefing Ministers clearly enough on the danger to democracy and the environment which the Bill represents. And there is still a long way to go before Natural England can achieve a consistency across the country in terms of its role as a watchdog for landscape. [6]

• Agriculture: only in the case of the role of farming in protecting landscape and wildlife has the Government managed to deliver adequate funding to allow Natural England to achieve its core objectives. But even here, questions arise over the pressure on Natural England to expand its remit without further funds to match. [7]

Tom Oliver continued:

‘Natural England has a critical role in helping Government to make wise decisions on the environment.  Unless the Government really listens to Natural England, the nation risks losing its fabulous inheritance of landscape and wildlife through bad decisions.'

Tom Oliver concluded:

‘While Natural England needs to make sure it is defending landscapes and wildlife for everyone, the Government has a lot to prove before CPRE will have confidence that it is taking enough notice of the very organisation it set up to do this crucial task.’

– END –

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Bill Bryson. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen. www.cpre.org.uk

2. The Government insisted throughout the legislative process that Natural England would be an independent and trenchant champion of the natural environment. When introducing the legislation to set up Natural England on 6 June 2005, Margaret Beckett, the then Secretary of State for the Environment said that Natural England should be an ‘independent and powerful guardian of our natural heritage’. On 30 March 2006, Margaret Beckett re-emphasised, ‘The Act sets up Natural England as a powerful champion for the natural environment’.

3. The Government approved the proposal to increase the cap on passenger numbers at Stansted by 40% the same week that the Climate Change Commission recommended a cut in emissions by at least 80% by 2050 and that trends in international aviation should be considered in deciding whether this target needed to be raised further.

4. Regions are making recommendations for the funding of transport schemes up to the middle of the next decade as part of the Regional Funding Allocation process.  The majority of the funds are likely to be allocated to outdated road schemes, many of which will damage the countryside, for example the Kingkerswell Bypass in Devon and the Shrewsbury North Western ‘Relief’ Road. Other immensely damaging schemes, such as the Weymouth Relief Road have already been given Government approval.

5. The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform published the UK Renewable Energy Strategy (RES) consultation paper on 26 June 2008. The RES is intended to deliver the UK’s share of a forthcoming European Union Directive to produce 20% of EU energy from renewable sources by 2020.

6.  Natural England’s ability to understand threats to the landscape and to protect it where appropriate has been inconsistent.  The organisation has promised to resolve this but two years’ on, there is still much to be done. In the mean time, some projects are not being adequately appraised by Natural England.

7. Although the money allocated to green farming schemes has to cover a daunting range and scale of issues, including nationally designated wildlife sites and landscapes, public access to the countryside, historic landscapes and enhancing all farmland for wildlife and public enjoyment, Natural England has now been given additional tasks to take further action to protect natural resources such as water and respond to climate change.  There has been no new money to achieve these additional tasks.