As Andy Burnham takes forward his English devolution agenda, he should consider a prophetic sign on how to make a success of it. No10 North, set up to be the engine house for devolution, is located in a building named not after a company, place or historical figure but after an iconic wild animal. Devolution, and the good things hoped to come from it, will flow from - Heron House.
For centuries English fishermen saw herons as good luck symbols, sometimes greasing fishing lines with heron fat to lure the fish thought to be attracted to the bird’s presence. The name of No10 North’s home is doubly lucky for Andy Burnham, both as a good omen for a PM fishing for policy success and as an indicator of what should be included in devolution to secure that success.
Devolution is good for nature recovery, and nature recovery is good for devolution.
English devolution seeks to transfer decision-making powers closer to the places affected by those decisions, in order to deliver ‘good growth’ for better lives. This opens a new route for nature to improve policy outcomes. The potential of nature to build happier, healthier lives is often drowned out amidst the noise of Westminster.
However, when decisions are taken away from the clamour of Parliament, birdsong is easier to hear. Asks about specific nature-rich spaces also resonate with local decision makers who know those spaces, to a much greater degree than generalised nature policy asks.
Poll after poll shows that the beauty of local nature makes people proud of the places where they live, even more than local high streets and pubs, and that communities want more wildlife on their doorstep. Devolution aims to give councils and mayors more power to act on local priorities like these, to deliver the asks that Westminster fails to heed amidst its busyness and national-level focus.
This includes asks for wilder spaces by communities keen for more of the beauty, prosperity, health and climate-adaptation services nature provides.
The public demand for better nature for better lives is loudest when it has the least distance to travel to decision makers, and when it concerns specific places.
Nature policy, long characterised by indifference and lack of urgency when set by distant national government, can be better aligned with the high value people place on it when delivered by local government. Far from being a generalised, largely ignored voice on a packed Parliamentary stage, nature recovery for known, cherished places can become a local priority, with local politicians judged on their success or otherwise in delivering wilder spaces for their residents to enjoy.
Pioneering councils have already put national government to shame, using the powers they already have. From urban rewilding in London and a new ‘Greenheart’ for Wigan, from planting for pollinators in Cumbria to wetland restoration in Northamptonshire, through to Burnham’s own green spaces fund in Manchester, councils and mayors are working with environmental groups to bring nature back, to make the places they serve more beautiful, more prosperous, more healthy and safer from the effects of climate change.
How could Andy Burnham’s new wave of English devolution empower councils to do more of this? How could new powers for local government unlock nature recovery that is transformative for people?
The Wildlife Trusts are full of ideas on this. We are a movement built on devolution, with 37 Trusts across England working for their local community, as part of a wider-UK federation of independent local charities, not as branches of one top-down organisation. Local decision making to make local places better is in our DNA.
From across the Trusts, here are three big, bold ideas to wire nature recovery into English devolution, so that it can do more to improve places and lives.
Give local government new freedoms to deliver lasting prosperity
For years local government has been told to prioritise growth at all costs, with a default growth model that often amounts to little more than maximising profit opportunities for large companies. The inadequacies of this model have been exposed by the cost-of-living crisis and the growing impacts of environmental decline. Whilst the Burnham administration’s use of ‘good growth’ as opposed to just growth is a step forward, this should be developed further, so councils can escape the restrictions of the narrow, restrictive view of growth historically imposed by Westminster.
Councils should be given the assurance that they can fulfill growth obligations through measures that aim at lasting regional prosperity rather than short-term private profit; prosperity founded on the recognition that a healthy economy is based on healthy ecosystems, achieved by economic success, community well-being and healthy natural systems being delivered together.
This assurance would free councils and mayors to spend more political and financial capital on treating nature as key infrastructure, from running training schemes to help people access new green jobs to putting Local Nature Recovery Strategies in the heart of local growth plans.
Central Government imposed barriers to such nature ambition, including limits on Biodiversity Net Gain levels and wider caps on nature ambition in development projects, should be removed by Ministers. For more on how regional prosperity approaches can transform local areas, see ‘Future proofing our economy’ by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and ‘United for Nature’ by Norfolk and Suffolk Wildlife Trusts.
Develop Nature for Climate Resilience units for each mayoral authority
This summer has exposed how dangerous weather caused by climate change poses a direct threat to people’s quality of life, one that will grow over the years to come. Local authorities should be empowered to lead on climate resilience, their local knowledge and reach mean they are best placed to protect their communities. A locally led response to climate change impacts is also necessary in face of the varying impacts of climate change, which affects different places in different ways.
One commonality across different locations is that nature can help local authorities respond to climate pressures. Nature-based solutions store and slow water to mitigate the impacts of both drought and flood, provide cooling services in urban areas, and boost farmland productivity in rural ones. New Nature for Climate Resilience units could bring local teams in different agencies together to jointly work on climate protection.
These local units, one for each Mayoral authority, would work around a core objective of using nature-based solutions to keep people safe from climate change impacts, drawing on mayoral political leadership, multi-agency expertise and devolved funds to help deliver this. The current landscape of fragmented agency work would be replaced by an integrated model of locally led climate resilience, through deployment of nature-based solutions.
Allow local government to lead on water stewardship
Chronic mismanagement has left England’s water resources in a perilous state. In an age of climate change, water needs to be recognised as an essential strategic resource, followed by urgent intervention to re-wet the country. The Government is committed to new regional water planning partnerships, which could help deliver this, if given sufficient weight, a clear re-wetting focus and local government leadership.
Regional water plans should be given legal powers to compel funding from water companies, developers and other water-impacting sectors, to be spent on directed investment to protect local water resources, including through nature-based solutions delivered through additional payments to farmers.
Legal powers should also allow water plans to pause abstraction for new uses where water supplies are not available and enable the folding of outdated Internal Drainage Boards into the new, overarching water stewardship system. Each regional water plan should be led by an elected Mayor, with responsibility for ensuring delivery of the actions agreed by the plan and effectively stewarding water resources. This will add local democratic accountability and encourage delivery – and allow voters to pass judgement if delivery does not happen.
The Wildlife Trusts will be developing these and other ideas, to form part of a proposed 10-year plan for prosperity and resilience. Look out for more from us on this over the weeks and months ahead, including devolution reflections from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
As the Government pursues English devolution to deliver good growth and better lives, nature stands ready to help - by providing renewed beauty, prosperity, health and climate safety in the places that need it the most. As Andy Burnham looks to rewire the state from Heron House, let that noble bird be a good luck charm. Nature recovery can make English devolution soar.