Ambitious Environment and Agriculture Bills key to “putting nature at heart of recovery”

The Aldersgate Group welcomed the commitment by Environment Secretary George Eustice today to put nature at the heart of the recovery but said that including nature restoration projects in stimulus investments and making rapid progress on ambitious Environment and Agriculture Bills was essential to put this commitment into practice.

Reacting to the Environment Secretary’s speech today, Nick Molho, Executive Director of the Aldersgate Group said: “A healthy natural environment is essential to the wellbeing of the economy and society. It is heartening to hear the Environment Secretary’s commitments to “redouble efforts” to improve the state of the environment and ensure that decisions relating to or impacting on the environment must be guided by sound scientific evidence.

Putting nature at the heart of the recovery requires the government to take a three-pronged approach. First, any changes to environmental impact assessments must result in a planning system that is predictable, science-based and focused on delivering environmental improvements. Second, nature restoration projects such as wetland or peatland restoration projects must be included in future public stimulus investments. Third, rapid progress will need to be made in the Autumn to finalise the Environmental and Agriculture Bills and develop a system of ambitious targets, all of which are essential to drive long-term private investment towards environmental improvement projects.”