Over 35 MPs and Council Leaders have come together with the Wildlife Trusts to call for nature restoration to be placed at the heart of the Government’s devolution agenda.
In a letter sent to the Prime Minister today, MPs, Council Leaders, Wildlife Trusts and other environmental groups have highlighted centrally imposed barriers that prevent local authorities from making their areas greener and more filled with wildlife. Off the back of the PM’s promise to use devolution to put ‘more power in the hands of the people and places to set their own ambitions’ the letter calls for these barriers to be lifted, so that local authorities can set high ambition for local nature restoration.
The evidence shows that areas with abundant nature are better for people to live in. Health outcomes improve, communities are made safer from the impacts of climate change, visitors increase and people report feeling happier and prouder of the places where they live. As the Government looks to devolution to unleash locally led good growth, the return of nature to places deprived of it is a powerful tool at their disposal.
Today’s letter urges the PM to use this tool, and to include a nature restoration chapter in No10’s forthcoming 10-year plan for devolution and wider national renewal. It proposes that the 10-year plan lift the barriers that prevent local authorities from growing nature and eco-tourism jobs, from delivering new parks and green infrastructure and from taking the lead on keeping people safe from climate change. Signatories include Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green MPs and Council Leaders from Devon to Norfolk.
There are encouraging signs that the Government is starting to listen to the case for environmentally ambitious devolution. Last week saw the announcement of a policy The Wildlife Trusts have been asking for through our Fix Water campaign; Regional Water Councils, eight new powerful bodies in England to tackle all threats to local rivers, led by local authority leaders.
Coverage of all forms of river harm and leadership by named, accountable figure with an electoral incentive to deliver, are success factors that have been missing from previous water governance bodies. There is more to do ensure Regional Water Councils are delivered to the highest form of nature ambition, and to bring forward other radical reforms to our water system, but it is a promising start. The Prime Minister has the perfect opportunity with the 10-year Plan apply this hopeful approach beyond water, to wider policy.
Nature is here to help – including with making devolution a success. By setting local leaders free to deliver high ambition for nature restoration in their areas, devolution can bring forth more nature, brighter places and better lives.