Natural England’s future in the political spotlight

A House of Lords debate about Natural England’s approach to gamebird releasing had peers questioning the quango’s remit and purpose. Conor O’Gorman covers some of the key points discussed.

BASC’s win in its High Court challenge against Natural England (NE) matters well beyond shooting. It is about the simple principle that public bodies must act within the law, just as they expect everyone else to.

A debate in the House of Lords yesterday on NE’s approach to gamebird releasing was initiated by Lord Harlech. The exchange quickly widened into a broader challenge to the agency’s standing as England’s principal conservation adviser and regulator.

Natural England's remit questioned

Lord Harlech (Conservative) said: “the former Prime Minister promised to cut quangos and end regulators running riot. Instead, we have more of them, and Natural England has just been found by the High Court to have acted irrationally and beyond its powers”.

“Why do I get the impression from the past couple of years that Natural England seems to be opposed to any rural activity and any aspect of the rural way of life?”, asked Lord Rooker (Labour).

Later in the debate Lord Spellar (Labour) questioned: “is it not time that the Government looked at all these quangos, at whether they are value for money and add to public life and at whether issues should really be taken in for proper ministerial decision-making? Is it not time for a cull of the quangos?”

Lord Roborough (Conservative) mentioned the High Court judgment against NE as “the latest in a long list of failures”.

“Natural England is confused as to its role. Is it regulator, adviser, operator, competitor or pricer? There are multiple conflicts of interest. When will the Government help Natural England understand what its role truly should be?”, asked Lord Fuller (Conservative).

Lord Gardiner (Conservative) explained: “I think that what has broken down is trust; that is, trust on the part of so many in the rural communities in relation to what has appeared to be imposed upon them.

“I encourage the Minister, with her rural credentials, to seek to rebuild this sense of working together rather than against communities. It is all very well saying that this is not happening; it is happening. That is the feeling of rural communities. I ask and, indeed, implore the Minister to ensure that Defra, in the work that it is doing, really drills down with some of these bodies that they are meant to be working for people, not against them”.

Baroness Hayman (Labour), The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs responded to the various questions and confirmed that the government was reviewing the roles and responsibilities of all the different arm’s-length bodies and reassuring peers that: “We have a new Secretary of State, as I am sure noble Lords are aware. She was a Minister in Defra before, which is helpful, and I shall make sure that she understands the concerns of this House”.

Government support for sustainable shooting

Back on the topic of shooting, Lord Robathan (Conservative) asked Baroness Hayman to explain to Natural England that ‘game crops put out tend to lead to a vast number of songbirds’.

Lord Beamish (Labour) said: “local shoots are important to many local rural economies”.

Baroness Hayman (Labour) reassured peers that the Government supports ‘well-managed shooting estates’.

And that is perhaps the crux of the matter. Successive governments have stated their support for sustainable shooting, particularly at BASC’s rural receptions at the autumn political conferences.

However, what we are experiencing from NE is a regulator that treats shooting as a problem not a partner. What is needed now is for NE to take a step back and rethink its approach.

Will Natural England change its ways?

For anyone concerned with land management, shooting, farming and conservation, yesterday’s Lords debate was significant because it exposed a growing political appetite to ask what NE is for, who it is accountable to, and whether it commands sufficient confidence among those affected by its decisions.

It’s 20 years since the restructure that led to the creation of NE. The countryside needs a regulator that functions and that it can trust.

BASC has written to Dame Angela Eagle MP following her appointment as Secretary of State for Defra to welcome her to the role and set out how sustainable shooting supports Defra’s priorities.

There are pressing issues that BASC is keen to engage early on, not least the uncertainty NE has caused for our sector, and we have asked to meet the Secretary of State at the earliest opportunity.

Conor OGorman

Conor O’Gorman has worked in a variety of conservation, policy and campaigning roles at BASC over the last 20 years. A zoology graduate with a PhD awarded for grey partridge research, he has over 25 years’ experience in conservation and land management.