Clause 40 - Duty to conserve biodiversity
Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill
10:30 am
Colin Breed (Shadow Minister, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; South East Cornwall, Liberal Democrat)
Good morning, Mr. Forth, and I welcome everyone on this lovely, bright, sunny day. What better day could there be to consider the Bill and biodiversity, which is the thrust of the clause and our amendments? I hope that the amendments that we have tabled are helpful. We welcome the duty on every public body to conserve biodiversity, but we would like it to go a little further than to “have regard” to biodiversity. Our amendments would strengthen the duty, and would have the added benefit of bringing England and Wales into line with Scotland in this respect.
We know that local authorities already have an important role in biodiversity when considering aspects of their work, such as planning. Planning is very much at the heart of local authority work these days, involving a tremendous amount of engagement with the public and business. Local authorities generally have become much more aware of the need to conserve biodiversity, and some have been proactive in that respect. When planning applications are submitted, particularly for large developments, sensible applicants already ensure that they have regard to biodiversity matters, but we want local authorities to have an enhanced role in that respect.
Many local authorities also own large pieces of land, or have control of them in one way or another. I am thinking of my own county and county farms: the way in which farm land is used where the county is the landlord and tenants are required to manage and run those farms with regard to biodiversity. When local authorities receive applications for funding for various matters, they should consider what effect those applications may have on biodiversity.
I am aware that many local authorities are excellent; they are proactive. They are looking for this role and in many respects they have already undertaken what is set out in the provisions of the clause. My local authority, Cornwall county council, has been at the forefront of that process. Some three years ago it set targets in conjunction with Cornwall Wildlife Trust on 100 identified wildlife sites, 60 of which were owned by the council with a further 40 in private ownership. Those were identified as sites that were worthy of enhancement and I am very pleased that we are well on target, so that by March next year those sites will have been enhanced and the biodiversity will be much improved.
It would be true to say that other authorities are less active and less concerned, so the picture around the country is rather patchy. There are some very good local authorities and some that are much less so. We want to bring all those authorities up to the level of those that offer best practice.
The Cornwall Wildlife Trust supports our amendments and has helpfully provided a rather useful briefing, which may have been supplied to others. It properly highlights three distinct roles for our local authorities, which I think are worth reading into our deliberations because they are important aspects. First, there is the aspect of information on biodiversity. Before a local authority can introduce beneficial policies, it needs to identify the sites and areas that are locally important, which have real potential for enhancement or restoration. That takes a great deal of work and the trust ought to be commended for the work that it has done in this respect because authorities need to have that information at their fingertips to put into place policies that they would like to introduce. The logical place to hold, maintain and provide access to this information is a local records centre, and local authorities are one of the key partners being encouraged by the national biodiversity network to support both centres and to support those collecting the biodiversity information.
The Minister will forgive me for reiterating some of what we said a sitting or two ago about the role of local authorities. Their role would be complemented if they were to undertake some of the measures that are destined for the Commission for Rural Communities.
I spoke before about sites of special scientific interest, and the Minister knows that in the previous Session, the Select Committee considered SSSIs and the way in which so many of them had been regretfully damaged beyond repair. Local authorities are advised to give a high degree of protection through the planning system to SSSIs, and that includes using policies within their local development frameworks to protect and enhance them. It is important to enhance the sites’ usefulness, and not just to protect them and keep them as they are. Protection through the planning system and through the strengthening of schedule 9 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, coupled with a commitment from the Government to get 95 per cent. of SSSIs in a favourable condition by 2010, will create a relatively strong status for SSSIs.
However, SSSIs represent only a sample of our nationally important sites, with many priority habitats and species falling beyond their boundaries. That was recognised by Cornwall county council: it was not just the SSSIs, of which there are a considerable number in Cornwall, but many other sites that were of great interest and that needed to be protected.
Local sites have a lower hierarchical position. No significance is placed on their quality, nor on their contribution to nature conservation objectives, despite many being of equal calibre to SSSIs. For sites to be special, there should be relatively few of them in a category of special scientific interest. We all recognise, however, that underneath that category a huge number of sites are gradually being eroded or damaged. Local biodiversity action plans are an important part of any community strategy that local authorities should have a duty to prepare under Government legislation.
We welcome the clause, but if the Minister were to go that little bit further and bring us into line with Scotland, that additional duty would be provided for. Many local authorities need that extra push. Some are performing well and going well beyond what they already need to do; but many others are prepared to do only what they have to do. They may interpret some of the wording of the clause as having “regard to” it, but as little else. We would like to see the enhanced duty placed upon those local authorities.