Restore Nature

Spring should be one of the best times of the year in West Berkshire: ancient trees in Bowdown coming to life, meadows in the Lambourn Valley starting to bloom, and beautiful lapwings soaring above our globally rare chalk streams. 

We are incredibly lucky to be surrounded by such scenic landscape, but it’s also in a perilous state, and in the past two weeks many of you have contacted me with deep concerns about the urgent need to halt the decline of our irreplaceable habitats.

Right now, the Government is falling short. Just 3% of land across the UK is protected, 14% of our rivers and lakes are in good ecological health and nearly one in six species are threatened with extinction. At times, it can be hard to comprehend the scale of this loss, but locally, we are seeing the decline first-hand: sewage in our chalk streams killing flora and fauna and the reduced access to the green spaces we all cherish. 

In four key areas, the Liberal Democrats have been leading the campaign to reverse this trend:

1. Designated Space

Nature should be accessible to all, not limited to isolated pockets for the few. But right now, a fifth of us are deprived of green space. We need bolder, legally binding targets to “double nature” by 2050: doubling the size of the Protected Area Network, the abundance of species, the area of most important wildlife habitats, and woodland cover from 10% to 20%. 

At the same time, it is crucial the government urgently builds the 150,000 social homes a year, but rather than just ripping up green belt protections; a joined-up strategy through wildbelts is needed that weaves nature into our communities. 

2. Farming

Since being elected, I’ve spent a huge amount of time speaking to hard-working farmers across West Berkshire who want to do more to transition to nature-friendly practises. But they need the certainty and support to do so. The Government’s decision to halt new applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive has been a serious blow, and one I totally disagree with. We need to back our farmers with an immediate £1 billion boost to the Environmental Land Management Scheme which will allow farming families to develop resilient local-supply chains for generations to come and stabilise prices in the supermarket aisle.  

3. Water Reform

Nowhere is the case clearer for immediate action than the national sewage scandal and perilous state of our cherished waterways. Thousands of hours of Thames Water sewage discharges are poising our unique waterways and rushing past our doorsteps. By collaborating with local groups, signing EDMs, demanding action from agencies, and speaking up in Parliament, I’m determined to keep pushing for practical solutions that will safeguard both our homes and beloved chalk streams. 

We’re all fed up with empty promises, and unfortunately, we find ourselves in a familiar position – a government not willing to take the radical action to reform a water industry that has persistently placed profits over pollution. I and my Liberal Democrat colleagues will continue to demand the Government to listen to us and see water companies become mutually owned public benefit corporations. 

4. Education

If we want to achieve this change in the long-term, it has to go hand-in-hand with education of the next generations. The Natural Connections project, a four-year imitative across 125 schools in the Southwest, found 92% of teachers said their pupils were more engaged with learning after they use the outdoors to support everyday learning.  

I have signed EDM 670 that ensures every child is offered at least one outdoor education experience during primary school years. Nature can act as the antidote to our increasingly fast-paced and technological world. 

Ultimately, natural habitats are our life-support system, they provide the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the vital boost for our mental and physical wellbeing. So, I’ve written to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs urging the Government to be bolder and protect the natural habitats we all cherish.