Green light for Spelman
OUR Coalition Government may only be a few months old but is already staking a claim to be the most radical administration for decades.
Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, is clearly out to make a difference.
Her new White Paper proposals to protect our natural environment, the first for 20 years, herald a much-needed and exciting change. In future, business and environmental groups will be made to work together and Britain’s endangered wildlife will be better protected.
It’s high time that co-operation replaced confl ict in our approach to environmental issues. Over the past couple of decades battle lines between business interests and nature lovers have been drawn, while officials in lofty Whitehall have made decisions that affect small communities.
Under the new proposals, ideas for preserving and improving the environment will come from the grass roots and new “stepping stone” wild places will help to connect nature reserves. This is great news for all of us who care about the quality of the countryside and the breathing spaces we all share. Well done, Mrs Spelman. This is a good start to tackling a problem that we ignore at our peril.