Thank you for contacting me about nature and its protection.
Our countryside, rivers and woodlands are an important part of what makes this country special, and they must be preserved for future generations to enjoy.
In North Bedfordshire, I have opposed inappropriate development projects that would blight our natural environment and remove our agricultural land, such as the huge solar plant East Park Energy. You can read more about my campaigns against this here. I also visited The Lodge nature reserve in Sandy over the summer and was pleased to learn about their work and plans, which include expanding onto a recently acquired field, and the return of Dartmoor Ponies. You can read more about this visit here.
I very much recognise your disappointment about the Government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill, and what it could mean for our natural world. My colleagues in HM Opposition have been working hard during the Bill’s passage through Parliament to push back against its worst elements. The Government's decision to leverage its majority to vote down these sensible amendments, such as Amendment 40, which aimed to restrict the new Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs) to ensure the Bill delivers strategic environmental solutions without weakening existing protections, is concerning.
The last Government's Environmental Improvement Plan included a commitment to ensure that everyone lives within a 15-minute walk of a green or blue space. I am pleased that the current Government has maintained this commitment in their Environmental Improvement Plan.
Thank you again for being in touch. We must protect our natural environment and the communities that help to care for it. I shall continue to scrutinise the Government’s approach closely and to press Ministers to uphold environmental protections and ensure that policy reforms do not weaken nature’s recovery.