Commenting ahead of today’s natural environment debate at the Liberal Democrat Party Conference [1], Ben Stafford, Head of Campaigns at CPRE [2], said:

'The Liberal Democrats have produced a comprehensive and ambitious strategy for protecting and enhancing the natural environment. CPRE launched its Vision for 2026 earlier this year [3], and we are delighted by the number of our policies reflected in this document.'

Two years ago, CPRE and others criticised the Liberal Democrats for having insufficiently strong policies to protect the countryside, landscapes and wildlife [4].

We felt that their policies then were outdated, and did not reflect the scale of the challenges facing the environment, or the huge public support for stronger action.
The new natural environment policy is a very encouraging response to that criticism.

Ben Stafford said:

'We hope Liberal Democrat members will give this policy their support today. If they do, they will be backing pledges to protect Green Belts and prioritise brownfield development, action on light pollution and to protect the tranquillity of our countryside, and new measures to tackle litter and fly-tipping. All of these matter to CPRE, to our members and supporters and, we believe, to people across the country.'

Ben Stafford concluded:

'The challenge for the Liberal Democrats now is to make sure these policies are at the forefront of their programme for the next General Election, and fully integrated with their other plans.

'And we hope their policy will spur the other parties to be equally ambitious as they set out their environmental priorities. Broad political support for action on the natural environment would be a huge step towards delivering CPRE’s vision for the countryside.'

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

1.  The Liberal Democrats are holding their annual party conference in Bournemouth (19-23 September 2009), and will today be debating a natural environment policy paper, Our Natural Heritage – Policies on the Natural Environment.

2. 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

3. CPRE launched 2026 - A Vision for the Countryside in May, setting out a positive and optimistic vision for the future of the beautiful English countryside in 2026, the charity’s centenary year. The Vision’s key issues include: affordable, high quality housing; urban regeneration; Green Belts; better planning; green energy; local food and farming; quality of life; light pollution and valuing the countryside as a national asset.

4. CPRE is part of a coalition of environmental groups involved in the Green Standard process, assessing the performance and pledges made by the three main political parties across a range of areas of environmental policy. The first Green Standard report , How Green are our Parties?, was published in September 2007, and gave the Liberal Democrats a red light (meaning “We are very concerned by the potential effect of the party’s approach, and the lack of positive commitments”) on the natural environment.