Asked by: Angela Richardson (Conservative - Guildford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the new environmental land management scheme will provide specific rewards for evidence of actions that contribute towards reaching net zero.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We are introducing three Environmental Land Management schemes that reward the delivery of environmental benefits: the Sustainable Farming Incentive; Local Nature Recovery; and Landscape Recovery. These schemes will be vital to supporting the delivery of our environmental targets, including achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
Through these schemes, we will support farmers to significantly reduce agricultural emissions, for example, through reduced use of inorganic fertiliser through more efficient and sustainable nutrient management. We anticipate that the collective actions of farmers under our environmental land management scheme agreements, together with the Farming Innovation Fund which will fund the deployment of new technologies, and our other farming offers we will decarbonise agricultural emissions by up to a total of 6 MtCO2e per annum in Carbon Budget 6 (2033-2037) in England. Further to this we will also continue to pursue more opportunities through the schemes to support farmers and land managers' contribution to delivering our Carbon Budgets, including through tree planting and peat restoration.
Asked by: Angela Richardson (Conservative - Guildford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans Natural England have to extend the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; what the Government policy is on expanding the AONB designation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s response to the independent Landscapes Review, made in the Written Ministerial Statement 24 June 2021, contributes to the vision set out in the Government’s Ten-Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, to start the process for designating more of England's beautiful and iconic landscapes as safeguarding these areas for future generations and bringing more people within closer reach of nature. Two of England’s most iconic landscapes, the Yorkshire Wolds and Cheshire Sandstone Ridge, will be considered to become new Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Extensions to the Surrey Hills and Chilterns AONBs are also being considered.
Natural England has statutory responsibility for the designation of areas as AONB under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and will be beginning this work with immediate effect.
The Government will be working closely with our partners over the coming months including local authorities and National Park Authorities, to address the Landscapes Review’s recommendations in full and consult on draft proposals later this year.