Standing up for nature
" Nature revives, rejuvenates and restores us and it needs us, now more than ever."
Environment Bill: We need stronger measures to restore nature
The National Trust welcomes the steps taken to progress the Environment Bill but believe it is not strong enough to hold the government to account and ensure it delivers on its commitments to restore nature.
Responding to the publication of the Environment Bill, Hilary McGrady, Director General of the National Trust, congratulated the government and welcomed the inclusion of long-term environmental targets. But she also stressed that it's vital for the new watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection, to be made fully independent from the government.
'Like the government, we want to see an ambitious and effective bill that will leave the environment in a better condition for future generations. The new framework to set long-term targets for the environment is particularly welcome,' she said.
'But there is work left to do. The new watchdog - the Office for Environmental Protection - needs to be properly independent from government. Without real independence, the new watchdog won’t be able to fully deter future governments from breaking environmental laws, or hold their feet to the fire if they do.
'At the moment, the bill still allows for too much ministerial influence over the appointment of senior staff and allows ministers to control the budget to affect the work it does. We trust the government will look at this again as the bill goes through parliament.'
We're also concerned about the way environmental principles will be brought over from the EU into UK law, as well as the bill's exclusion of the historic environment. When the 25 Year Environment Plan was published in early 2018 we were pleased to see the historic environment put on a level playing field with the natural environment. But as it stands the bill risks undoing this by actively excluding the historic environment from the required scope of future versions of the Environment Plan.