Dear Broadland Conservative councillors,
“This Government has launched an attack on nature” ~ RSPB England
There is widespread public anger in response to government plans to remove fundamental legal protections for our environment. Opposition has come from many organisations ranging from the RSPB and National Trust through to Norfolk Wildlife Trust and Friends of the Earth.
Alongside the reckless approach to the nation's finances, the government seems intent on tearing up protection for nature. In a three-pronged assault on nature Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng plan to:
- Scrap planning rules that protect nature in new ‘investment zones’ covering huge areas of the country.[1] [2]
- Rip up environmental protections introduced by the EU, without plans for replacement.[3]
- Withdraw plans to help farmers to protect nature [4], with reports suggesting the ‘Environmental Land Management Scheme’ (ELMS) has been ‘put on hold’ whilst a return to a Common Agricultural Policy type per acre payment is expected, which will break a specific manifesto pledge [5].
Just before these announcements we also saw Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg open the door to environmentally damaging fracking, a policy that is widely opposed, will do nothing to reduce energy bills, and which the founder of Cuadrilla himself says is not viable [6].
The responses from those who care for nature have been overwhelming. Joan Edwards, director of policy for The Wildlife Trusts, says these policies will mean “polluters can get away with poisoning our rivers and countryside – even more than they are doing already.” [7] Hilary McGrady of the National Trust says, “environmental protections are dismissed as ‘burdens’, while investment and growth are pitted against nature and climate action.”
In an unprecedented statement the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Rev Graham Usher, has criticised the plans announced in the government's mini-budget to loosen planning rules as "an assault on nature", demonstrating "a disdain for the planet" [8].
These proposals come as part of a growth package which is spooking markets and ruining government finances. There is no mandate for these measures: they actually reverse the direction of travel on the environment in your 2019 Conservative manifesto and have never been put to the British people.
Yet we know people’s livelihoods and local economies can be put on a sound footing with a three-pronged approach to investment: in nature recovery, in renewable energy and in home insulation to reduce energy bills. Research has shown that “Protection and use of environmental assets is key to evening out economic imbalances between metropolitan and rural areas” [9]. The recovery of nature and the revival of local living standards should and can go hand-in-hand.
Please could you call on your national party leaders to reverse these policies?
Please could your group leader provide us with a statement on your group’s views about these new policies?
We would suggest there is every reason to stand up for your communities and for your local environment in Broadland by making it plain that you will not support the tearing up of environmental protection and the reversal of attempts to help nature thrive.
Kind Regards,
Cllr Jan Davis
Cllr Eleanor Laming
[2] Map of investment zones: https://twitter.com/RSPBEngland/status/1573366828222808064
[5] “in return for funding, [farmers] must farm in a way that protects and enhances our natural environment” https://www.conservatives.com/our-plan/conservative-party-manifesto-2019
[7] https://www.birdguides.com/news/uk-government-launches-all-out-assault-on-environment/
[8] https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/local-council/bishop-of-norwich-slams-conservative-mini-budget-9295258
[9] https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_918714_en.htm
