The Conservative Party made some solid promises for the planet in their successful election manifesto and we at your local Wildlife Trust are going to hold our local Conservative officials to their pledge to have ‘The most ambitious environmental programme of any country on Earth’.  Look at these commitments, absorb them and remember them.

1. Net Zero emissions by 2050
2. A new Environment Bill and an Office For Environmental Protection
3. £640 million Pounds for natural climate solutions
4. A new agriculture subsidy system that rewards sustainability with ‘public money for public goods’
5. £500 million  to protect oceans and seas and a new legal commitment to sustainable fishing practices

Following the election, your 17 local Conservative and 2 Labour Members of Parliament were sworn in today and pledged their allegiance to the country and monarch. It is a solemn and special moment for them and a reminder of the weight of their responsibility to act for the benefit of the whole country.  Despite the pressures and distractions of the role, they all need to know the seriousness of our planet’s plight and their personal accountability for environmental decisions that will be made.

Business as usual is not an option and The Trust will be resolute in ensuring that natural solutions are at the heart of local plans to tackle the climate emergency; that the relentless development across our counties gives back more to nature than it takes away and that all our political decision makers are putting nature’s recovery at the top of the agenda.