Latest news with #Natural England
The Guardian
a day ago
- General
- The Guardian
Sheep are destroying precious British habitats – and we taxpayers are footing the bill
Britain's uplands are dying. What should be some of the very best places for nature are the absolute worst. Across vast tracts of some of our most beautiful landscapes, life is rapidly ebbing away. Where once there was purple heather, bilberry and buzzing insect life, there are now over-grazed, sheep-infested ecological disaster zones. For a nation of nature lovers, it's a disgrace. One of the very worst areas is the Dartmoor commons. These exemplify everything that is wrong about England's upland management. In a recent Natural England survey of Dartmoor's protected sites, only 26 out of 22,494 hectares (55,583 acres) were found to be in an ecologically favourable condition – that's 0.1%. All the blanket bogs and all the heathland surveyed are in an appalling state, and in many places these once wonderful habitats are in decline. On Dartmoor's high moor, where there should be a diverse blanket bog, we see huge areas dominated by a single species – purple moor-grass. This hardy plant flourishes in degraded conditions, and is a wretched symptom of the historical extraction, erosion and drainage of the underlying peat, which was compounded by excessive burning and year-round grazing in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. This moor grass flourishes at the expense of peat-forming sphagnum mosses – the botanical engineers of healthy bogs. That legacy of intensive farming haunts us with the ghastly spread of impenetrable tussocks of moor grass as far as the rambler can ramble. Meanwhile, livestock – particularly sheep – continue to destroy what little heather moorland is left. This modern-day tragedy of the commons is the result of a land that has been pushed far beyond its ecological limits by the farmers and commoners who have rights over it. But this is also a national scandal – because it is the taxpayer, you and I, who pay for this destruction. Here is a hard, unpopular but simple fact: farming in this place does not make any money. According to a Duchy College Rural Business School report in 2023, each ewe put on the Dartmoor commons loses its owner £16.90. And there are a lot of sheep. The only way these losses are maintained is through public subsidies. From the 1970s to the 1990s, farmers and commoners were paid per head of animal – so the more you grazed, the more cash you got. Some sense prevailed in the late 1990s when the first nature schemes came in and public payments were made to actually reduce the numbers. The problem is that numbers were never reduced enough; the grazing rates ended up being an unscientific compromise. For instance, on the huge Forest of Dartmoor common, the higher-level stewardship scheme allows an average of 0.52 ewes per hectare. In a Natural England 2020 study of 25 years of schemes in the Lake District, the habitat response was universally good only where the stocking rates were below 0.4 ewes per hectare. But here is the greatest scandal. Over the past decade, more than £32m has been paid to Dartmoor commoners through higher-level stewardship schemes – schemes that exist specifically to improve nature on sites that should be protected by law. And guess what? Not one common has improved, and many have got worse. The government's supposed regulator, Natural England, has tried to improve things. Back in 2023 it made a stand, being clear that if it was to agree to schemes being extended, it would need to see changes to those stocking rates. The backlash from the farming fraternity was wild, and a politically driven independent review saw NE make an embarrassing climb-down. Public funds continue to be wasted, and the law is not being enforced. That's why an organisation called Wild Justice has stepped up and secured a judicial review, which is being heard on 15 and 16 July. Our wish is that the Dartmoor Commoners' Council adheres to its legal obligations and acts to reduce stocking rates to ensure the habitat recovers. It's not even as if this land is contributing to food security. Grazing on Dartmoor falls within the least productive 20% of land, which produces less than 3% of the food produced in England. In short, the public is propping up an environmentally destructive, loss-making industry that makes a minimal contribution to the nation's food supply, all while damaging Dartmoor's greatest asset: its nature. It's madness! We are in a planet-threatening climate and nature crisis; we cannot afford not to make positive changes now. We need the government's new land use framework to lend weight to taking this minimally productive land out of any pretence of significant food production, and concentrating instead on its real potential for essential nature restoration. Dartmoor's blanket bogs, for instance, are internationally scarce habitats that, if restored, can store carbon and help regulate the flow of water, thus reducing flood-risk downstream. We need to remove the sheep, restore and rewet the bogs, and then leave them alone. At the very least, the public should not be subsidising sheep grazing on the uplands. There are also some good farmers out there who want to do more to restore nature. If they put nature first, they deserve the public's support to restore our uplands with more suitable animals and more sustainable practices that the local community and our national parks can be proud of. Those farmers who don't want to change should be penalised for causing damage, not rewarded. Their destructive actions should be as illegal as dumping rubbish on protected areas or deliberately setting fires. The time for unjust compromises is over. We have to stop pouring millions into ecological collapse. Dartmoor and our other uplands are failing ecological systems propped up by wasting taxpayers' hard-earned cash. If we truly care about nature, the climate, or even fiscal responsibility, we must stop funding failure and invest in healing: in carbon-binding peat, in wild and wonderful nature, in healthy landscapes that breathe life. Our uplands need a healthy future, and that future starts with change – radical, urgent and unapologetic. Chris Packham is a naturalist, broadcaster and campaigner
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Climate 'superhero' sites unveiled as new nature reserve
An ancient wetland at the "forefront of nature recovery" in a heavily urbanised area has been unveiled as a new nature Holcroft and Chat Moss National Nature Reserve (NNRs) in Greater Manchester and Cheshire is part of the King's Series of 25 NNRs being developed to mark King Charles's spans nearly 529 hectares across 11 sites of the lowland peatland of Salford, Warrington and England described the sites as "superheroes in the fight against climate change" by soaking up and locking in carbon. It said the area is being transformed into a resilient and inspirational Paul Thomas from Natural England told BBC Radio Manchester the nature reserve had the "wow factor" for visitors to enjoy wildlife and for nature to thrive."It is an ancient wetland that is wild," he said."We started off with individual sites but we have started to link them all together to make something that's bigger... so nature has got a chance then." The senior officer for peat and wetlands said. "We have these hotspot sites for nature but it can spread out and join between the sites and move. "Species have got the chance to move."The area has a hugely important carbon storage sink described as the "rainforests of the North". Dr Thomas said the landscape was recovering after taking a battering during the Victorian era. "The landscape was used for the cutting of the peat by hand for horse bedding. Liverpool and Manchester were growing at the time with loads of horses in the cities."They needed bedding... so the peat was dug up and loaded on trains and taken into the cities to use as horse bedding."Seven partners are collaborating on the nature reserve after working together across this landscape for the past two decades in the Great Manchester Wetlands partnership. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Where are the next big road schemes for the East of England?
Following the Department for Transport's decision to fund four road schemes in the East of England the government has published a list of other major road projects that are "under consideration". Over the next two years works should begin to upgrade the Lower Thames Crossing and the A12 in Suffolk, to build a new road connecting the A10 to A47 in Norfolk and to build a roundabout and establish a sustainable transport scheme for Department for Transport has listed 10 further potential road schemes across the East of England where it would work with local authorities "to determine their viability and affordability".These projects could be eligible for the next round of funding in three to five years time, if there was enough public support and if the business case looked attractive. What are the schemes under consideration? Norwich Western Link: A 3.9 mile road between the A47 and Broadland Northway. This would complete an outer ring road around the city and ease congestion in the suburbs. The controversial £270m project was paused earlier this year after Norfolk County Council was unable to resolve objections by Natural England, which raised concerns about the impact on a local bat colony. The authority recently agreed to look again at the schemePullover junction, Kings Lynn: Improving the A17/A47 junction would ease congestion. Previous suggestions have included upgrading the roundabout or building a flyover. Norfolk County Council stopped pursuing the idea last year after it was concerned the benefit-to-cost ratio was too low to attract government fundingA10 Ely - Cambridge: Junction improvements and making the entire stretch a dual two-lane carriageway. Cambridgeshire County Council and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral authority have worked together on the project, but have recently been looking for ways to reduce its costA1139 Peterborough: New slip roads from Fletton Parkway to facilitate access to the new universityA10 Broxbourne: Junction improvementsA127 Basildon to M25: Various improvements are planned to both the road and to encourage greater use of public transport. Parts of the project have already received money from Essex County Council, the local enterprise partnership and Department for TransportA13 Grays: Remodelling of the A126/A13 junctionVauxhall Way, Luton: Dualling the road would increase capacity and improve journey times to the nearby airport. There would also be provision to encourage more use of cycling and public transportA509 Isham bypass: A proposed dual carriageway around the village to improve the capacity of A509 and improve links to the A14A43 Northampton-Kettering: The first two stages of dualling between the A45 and A14 have already taken place. West Northamptonshire Council is looking for funding for the third stage. There is no guarantee that these schemes will eventually receive government funding, as that will depend on their business case and whether councils can demonstrate that there will be a significant economic return for the cost of construction. Schemes that can draw in funding from other sources may also stand a better these will be the main projects that local councils, MPs and business and transport groups will be working on and lobbying the government for over the next few Secretary Heidi Alexander said projects that would help generate economic growth and open up land for housing will be at the forefront for consideration. Which road schemes were not approved? The transport secretary has decided not to fund widening works to the A12 between Colchester and Marks Tey, Essex, telling MPs that the £1.2bn project was too expensive."Only projects that are fully costed, affordable and deliver a return on taxpayers' money will be given the green light under my watch," she told also dropped a proposed upgrade of the A47 at Wansford near Peterborough. She said: "We are already investing over £500m on improvements to the A47 corridor [in Norfolk]. "It is just not feasible to support further investment at this time."Both decisions have been criticised by local business groups and the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce accused Alexander of "a significant strategic blunder". Neither scheme has made it onto the department's "under consideration" list. MPs have pointed out that the East of England has recently received money for Sizewell C, the Lower Thames Crossing and East West Rail. The new list suggests that there could be other big road projects in the east in line for funding if the region can make the case for them. Follow East of England news on X, Instagram and Facebook: BBC Beds, Herts & Bucks, BBC Cambridgeshire, BBC Essex, BBC Norfolk, BBC Northamptonshire or BBC Suffolk.
