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Government rural policy under fire

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By Joe Dimbleby

Thursday, 15 December 2011

Conservation groups criticise the Chancellor

The Countryside Alliance (CA) has distanced itself from conservation groups’ recent attack on the Government’s environmental record in the wake of the chancellor of the exchequer’s autumn statement.

In a joint letter to the press, conservation groups, including the RSPB, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, The Wildlife Trusts, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, wrote: The stunning disregard shown for the value of the natural environment not only flies in the face of popular opinion, but goes against everything the Government said in June, when it launched two major pieces of environmental policy, the natural environment white paper and the England biodiversity strategy.

The attack was in part directed at the Government’s decision to cut solar energy subsidies and its proposed reform of planning regulations. In his statement, George Osborne said he wanted to ensure that “gold-plating of EU rules on things such as habitats” was not putting “ridiculous costs” on firms. Environmentalists fear more damage from large-scale developments. They cite the north Norfolk coast, the North Yorkshire moors, the Wye Valley and Salisbury Plain as areas of natural and untouched beauty that could be under threat.

The rest of this article appears in the 14th December issue of Shooting Times.

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