Published on: 18 March 2026
Today the Government announces the long-expected Land Use Framework, setting out how land across England should be used to balance the demands of food production, nature recovery, development, and climate resilience. It comes at a critical moment, as pressure on land intensifies. The challenge now will be turning ambition into delivery.
Read More...Published on: 13 March 2026
Today, the Government announces its response to the Nuclear Regulatory Review. The Review made highly deregulatory recommendations aimed at speeding up nuclear development, raising serious concerns for environmental protections. In particular, it risked weakening the Habitats Regulations, the cornerstone legislation protecting Britain’s most important wildlife sites and species.
Read More...Published on: 26 February 2026
New report urges Government to stop pollution at source, fix the broken water system, and restore nature to England’s rivers, lakes and seas in next generation water reforms.
Read More...Published on: 22 January 2026
Today the Government quietly released a report on measures taken under the Habitat Regulations between 2019-2024. The report states that ‘The assessment of habitat types found 3% to be in favourable conservation status (FCS)’. Wildlife and Countryside Link, the biggest environmental coalition in England, thinks that this is outrageous. We also note that the report arrives at a time when the Government appears to be moving in a concerningly deregulatory direction on a number of different environmental issues.
Read More...Published on: 19 January 2026
The Government has announced updates to water industry regulation, in what it calls the ‘biggest overhaul in a generation’. Wildlife and Countryside Link, the biggest environmental coalition in England, does not think this goes far enough to repair the damage done by years of bad practice.
Read More...Published on: 13 January 2026
New report shows that this Government risks becoming the first to break the law by missing legally binding targets to restore nature. Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL), and 20 members including the RSPB, National Trust, and The Wildlife Trusts are urging the Prime Minister to act now to put nature’s recovery back on track following the latest analysis by the Government’s watchdog.
Read More...Published on: 8 January 2026
Today at the Oxford Farming Conference, the Environment Secretary, Emma Reynolds, will announce the re-opening of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, and her commitment to implementing the recommendations made in the Batters review.
Read More...Published on: 16 December 2025
The Government has announced a new exemption to England’s Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) rules, excluding developments under 0.2 hectares from the policy. While this is less damaging than earlier proposals to exempt all sites under 1 hectare, Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL) warns the move still risks hollowing-out one of the most important nature protection policies in a generation.
Read More...Published on: 4 December 2025
Today the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) have released their latest review of the implementation of protected site laws in England (read here). Overall it shows a regime in serious failure: only a third of SSSIs are in favourable condition, deterioration is increasing, monitoring and enforcement have withered, and Government is nowhere near meeting its legal nature commitments.
Read More...Published on: 2 December 2025
Today statistics on the UK Biodiversity Indicators were released. They show broadly a trend of decline in the long-term and short-term. For species, only 2 indicators are improving in the long term and none in the short term.
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