This time last week I was lucky enough to be visiting two of our reserves (Greylake and West Sedgemoor) on the Somerset Levels. It was a pretty misty day but that just made it even more evocative. Displaying lapwing, flocks of wigeon and bugling cranes in the distance. Wonderful.
A week on and I am in sunny Stevenage taking part in a workshop with colleagues. But it is a little difficult to focus. There have been one or two distractions - and no, there are no breeding cranes in Stevenage. The Government has obviously decided that the week-beginning 19 March is the week to unveil their master plan for economic recovery.
There were two key interventions yesterday. First, the Prime Minister gave a speech about infrastructureinfrastructure " href="http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/pm-speech-on-infrastructure/"> to the Institute of Civil Engineers. It was essentially a trailer for the announcements due this week. It was therefore a little short on substance, but it did set out a clear direction of travel that the UK should invest in its long-term future by investing in its infrastructure.
That’s all well and good – we’ve no objections to new infrastructure so long as it is the right development in the right place (the announcements later this week on habitats regulations and the National Planning Policy Framework are critical to achieving this). But I was disappointed that Mr Cameron failed to acknowledge the importance of our natural infrastructure. Just as crucial to our long term well-being, my ambition is that one day a Prime Minister will spell out why it pays to invest in nature.
And, sadly, Mr Cameron repeated the Government's intention to explore aiport in the Thames Estuary to maintain our international aviation hub status. I struggle to see how any government wishing to decouple economic growth from environmental harm would even consider such a proposition.
Later yesterday, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman announced the results of the Red Tape Challenge of environmental regulations. As I suggested in my blog yesterday, the origins of this review were a little painful and 16,000 RSPB members registered their concern within a week of the Cabinet Office website going live.
Having read today's report, I am extremely glad to see that the Government has listened to the wishes of the public who responded overwhelmingly to this process saying environmental protection rules must be maintained.
We understand the need to come up with smarter regulation and when a set of laws have been written and amended over many years then there is often a need to simplify and streamline them. However we will be watching this process closely to ensure they consult properly and come up with legislation that does the same important job.
Environmental regulation is vital for ensuring our wildlife and natural habitats are allowed to flourish, our air and water is kept clean and our climate is protected. Regulation is usually the most cost effective means of the Government achieving their environmental objectives.
About ten years ago we entered an era of voluntary initiatives driven primarily by successive governments' belief that they are less costly to administer than more stringent, regulated alternatives. That said, we have very little experience of voluntary initiatives in this country and that which we do have generally demonstrates that they are simply not effective.
Whatever happens, we will, of course, work with the Government to smarten regulation but we will not allow tried and tested approaches to be replaced by measures which appeal to business but do not deliver the level of protection enshrined in our environmental laws.
Part of me wishes that the same level of effort that civil servants have invested in the red tape challenge could be invested in finding innovative ways to invest in nature. But part of me is just relieved that evidence and logic seems to have won the day. Defra deserves credit for retaining control of the process. Here's hoping for a similar outcome when the National Planning Policy Framework and results of habitats regulations review are published later this week.
And, if it gets too much, I can always mentally take myself back to the Somerset Levels...
Cranes look like being another RSPB and other groups success story and those at West Sedgemoor are so helpful and deserve all our thanks with help of how to see them with that bit of luck that you always need.
I predict he Thames airport proposal will die a premature death after the london mayoral election, when Boris, with hard work, will get defeated. This is Tory positioning to help him hopefully; the airlines are aginst it; the more serious issue is flood defences/ barrage for London.