Recent Comments
navasolanature on Poundbury Nature for Wellbeing… Alex Tylor on ‘Look but don’t pick’ – Wild M… AllRoundNature on Will Prime Minister Truss aban… Peter Lancashire on The true story of David Camero… Peter Lancashire on The true story of David Camero…
Tag Archives: Defra
More golden balls from Defra: You are spoiling us, Rural Ambassador!
We may have been led to believe that the avalanche of Government announcements on “take out the trash day” last Friday, signalled the end of “work” for the year, but today holds one further surprise. As reported in the Telegraph, … Continue reading
Shifting Baselines
This post isn’t about how our perceptions of environmental change get reset with each generation. It’s about Defra’s budget. Today’s spending Review saw Chancellor Osborne perform some typical numerical tricks, as he sought to position himself nearer to the centre … Continue reading
Natural England steps into the Tumbrel
Liz Truss has apparently already agreed to a 32% cut to the Defra budget for the 4 years from 2016-17 onwards. This impressive feat allows her to sit on the panel which resides over the imposition of cuts on other, … Continue reading
Posted in Defra, George Osborne, Liz Truss, Natural England, SSSis
Tagged cuts, Defra, George Osborne, Liz Truss, Natural England, SSSIs
14 Comments
New Shadow DEFRA Team announced: emphasis on the urban and post-industrial
It’s taken a while but Jerry Corbyn has finally chosen his shadow ministers. Working for Shadow Secretary of State for Defra Kerry McCarthy MP (who has set out her initial views on the post here) will be: Alex Cunningham, … Continue reading
Posted in Kerry McCarthy, Labour, Labour shadow DEFRA team
Tagged Defra, Kerry mcCarthy, Labour
4 Comments
Defra budget takes another hit; farmers worried they may have to pay for the Badger Cull
Defra received a further cut to its budget last week, shaving another £83M off. This is on top of the already planned £200M cut to take place this financial year. The Defra budget has declined by around 25% since 2010, … Continue reading
Countryside Alliance get their man into Defra
The slow death of Defra continues, as it loses Lord de Mauley as the Defra minister in the Lords. Lord de Mauley is a decent sort of chap. He didn’t agree with his former Boss Owen Paterson’s ravings about being … Continue reading
Posted in 2015 election, bees, blood sports
Tagged Countryside Alliance, Defra, General Election 2015, Lord de Mauley, Lord Gardiner
2 Comments
We need to talk about Defra
Defra – Deathra, the Death-Ray, Deafra, Defer, Defray – just some of the parodic alternative names given to our Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Formed in 2001 under a Labour government, when Margaret Beckett was … Continue reading
plus ça change plus c’est la même chose
Just in case you were thinking that under the new Common Agricultural Policy, following its lengthy and expensive “reform” process, that there are more requirements on farmers to deliver public goods for their extremely generous payments (paid for by taxpayers … Continue reading
The fallacy at the heart of the Governments biodiversity offsetting proposals
I have been thinking a bit more about last week’s Biodiversity Offsetting debate at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Biodiversity, which I blogged about here. Something was niggling away at the back of my mind and I couldn’t quite … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, Biodiversity APPG, biodiversity offsetting, EIA, farming, housing, meadows, Owen Paterson, regulatory reform
Tagged All Party Parliamentary Group, biodiversity, Biodiversity action plan, biodiversity offsets, Defra, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, EIA, Environment, nature after minerals
5 Comments
a new nature blog 