Protecting Nature Recovery Areas

Early day motion 487, tabled 23 September 2021 by Caroline Lucas (Green). Signed by 13 members.

This House is dismayed by Horsham District Council’s proposed allocation of the Buck Barn site for a new development in its local plan which means that a planned Nature Recovery Area, linking the Knepp Estate with coastal and forest habitats, including St. Leonard’s Forest and Ashdown Forest, to create a cross-Sussex wildlife corridor will be severely disrupted; notes that the Knepp Estate was cited as an outstanding example of nature regeneration in the 25 Year Environment Plan; further notes that that 25 Year Environment Plan proposed the creation of Nature Recovery Areas and that the Environment Bill requires the development of Local Nature Recovery Strategies; highlights the contradiction between environmental and planning policies that will hinder the creation of a cross-Sussex Nature Recovery Area; further notes that Buck Barn has been identified by Sussex Wildlife Trust as a site of high strategic value for Horsham District Council’s own nature recovery network plan; urges Horsham District Council to reverse its decision to allocate Buck Barn for development; recognises that nature is in decline across the country and that our future prosperity, security, health and wellbeing depend on reversing that decline; further recognises that the recovery of nature can only be achieved if planning policies align with environmental policies and further climate and nature goals; and calls on the Government to use the forthcoming Environment Bill and Planning Bill to achieve that alignment, ensuring that the planning system delineates nature recovery networks and protects nature-rich spaces.

Signatures by party: Liberal Democrat 5, Labour 4, DUP 1, Green 1, Labour/Co-operative 1, Social Democratic and Labour Party 1.