Blogs

The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill – often termed the Brexit Freedoms Bill – and the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill (LURB) have caused much consternation amongst environmental NGOs as both have mechanisms that will result in the current EU-derived environmental legislative framework changing. But is this cause for concern? Surely it’s what was expected from Brexit?

This last quarter (July to September) has seen the policy team in England respond to three Defra consultations/calls for evidence (on the Biodiversity Net Gain metric, deer management and Green Finance) and three select committee inquiries (on ELMS progress, food security and sustainable timber).  

GWCT Chief Executive Teresa Dent was invited to give the organisation’s verdict on the government’s progress with its Environmental Land Management Scheme to the EFRA Select Committee in the Palace of Westminster.

As the food producers and the rewilders battle it out over their polarised vision of what our future landscapes should look like, it's good to see the Chairman of Natural England, Tony Juniper, talking sense about how we need to build multifunctional landscapes which deliver different layers of outcomes.

Henrietta Appleton discusses the findings from ‘Sustaining Ecosystems: English Grouse Moors’, our audit of the contribution of grouse moor management to society’s wants and needs, as expressed by goals in the Government’s 25 year Environment Plan (25YEP).

It was encouraging to see the results of a long-term study of wildlife on a large commercial arable farm which were published on Tuesday 2nd August. The results support those of the longer-running GWCT Allerton Project, which is now in its third decade.

The EU has announced a temporary derogation from rules on crop rotation and maintenance of non-productive features on arable land for the claim year 2023 in response to the impact of the Ukraine Crisis on food supplies.

Recently a new study was published in Vet Record about badger culling and its relationship with the incidence of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). It was very quickly covered by the news and declared a “landmark study”, with the authors concluding that there is no detectable link between badger culling and any decline in incidence of bTB. However, Defra promptly issued a rebuttal and discounted the study as “methodologically flawed”.

Earlier this year the GWCT policy team was invited to respond to a consultation on Environmental Targets. We feel the 25-year Environmental Plan is ambitious, but it will take focused effort to.

Here are our thoughts...