Environment and Climate Change Committee Report: An Extraordinary Challenge: Restoring 30 per cent of our Land and Sea by 2030

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Wednesday 11th September 2024 Grand Committee

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

I add my voice in welcoming this excellent report and I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, and her committee on it and on securing the debate today. I declare my interests: I sit on the rural interest group of the Church of England Synod, and I am a patron of Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services. In upper Teesdale, almost 50% of the farms are tenanted, as they are in North Yorkshire, where I was an MP. As with every area of policy—this is no exception—we need to balance the interest of preserving nature and the natural world with that of those engaged in making a living and running a business in that environment. There is always a danger, which may flow from mapping and monitoring, of setting arbitrary targets that are too prescriptive and threaten that balance, as set out in the report.

I shall take a perhaps more parochial and domestic view than that of my noble friend Lord Goldsmith, whom I congratulate on what he achieved at COP 15. I will look at SSSIs and national parks, where setting planning policies too strictly prevents farmers and businesses, such as tourism and hospitality, from operating freely. The report has an omission, in that it does not reflect on the role of farmers and businesses in this regard, and indeed that of fishermen in protecting and restoring our seas. We must allow them to ply their trade, earn a living and provide food for the country.

Marine life faces a threat from the development and operation of offshore wind farms. We took evidence on this in the previous EU Energy and Environment Sub-Committee, under the excellent chairmanship of the noble Lord, Lord Teverson. I firmly believe that more research needs to be done in this area.

Farmers play a crucial role as custodians of the countryside and are integral to rural communities. Farmers manage 70% of the UK’s land area and must be regarded as key partners in nature conservation. They have faced a plethora of changes in the new schemes in a very short timeframe and, frankly, an IT system that is not fit for purpose. Recognising their contribution to the natural world will encourage and incentivise landowners and tenants alike to increase their engagement in policy. In developing the 30 by 30 policy, we must recognise the role of farmers on the land and ensure that nature conservation, if it is to be successful, is underpinned by a prosperous, economically viable farming sector.

Farmers have faced a major reset of policy since we left the European Union, and the more that environmental programmes such as ELMS and SFI have regard to the public good and allowing farmers to do that work, the better. Farmers need clarity and certainty in that regard going forward. After seven years of specific support under the CAP, farmers need to be able to create a long-term viable business plan.

Will the Minister, who I welcome to her place today, commit to Defra spending the identified underspend of £358 million over three years? Will she ensure that that money is spent not just on nature conservation but in working with farmers to ensure that they are allowed to grow crops and produce food to boost food security, self-sufficiency and increased exports abroad?

The position of tenant farmers has been ably expressed by a number of speakers, notably my noble friend Lady Rock and the noble Earl, Lord Caithness. This issue is particularly key in upland areas and on family farms in SSSI areas; the role of national parks here must be made clearer. In many instances, tenants are simply not able to claim for environmental schemes as they do not own the land on which they farm. I understand from UTASS that some 70 farming families are stuck in agreements at this time; that the agreements are almost 20 years old; that there has been no review of payments; and that those in the schemes have no ability to enter or transfer into SFI or country stewardship schemes. That is unacceptable. I understand that Natural England has a role in this regard, but we have to query whether it has the resources and the time to commit to this matter at this crucial stage.

ELMS has not emerged as the simpler, less complex, easy-to-administer scheme that farmers and the public were promised. That has to change. We must also end this piecemeal approach to reform and have a comprehensive and holistic approach that recognises what works and when. For example, an area that is good for wading birds is simply not suitable for rewilding or tree planting. I endorse entirely what my noble friend Lady Rock has said. It is unacceptable to propose booting a tenant farmer off the land that they have farmed for a generation in north Yorkshire in order to make way for yet another solar farm. That is not the way forward.

In summing up today, will the Minister undertake to consult closely with farmers and farming organisations going forward as the Government create new policy, starting with forthcoming Bills such as the Water (Special Measures) Bill but including—even more importantly—the Budget on 30 October? We must recognise the specific challenges that farmers have faced over the past five years: the fallout from Covid; imperfect supply chains; the higher input costs of energy and fertilisers, with poorer returns and a shortage of labour; and extreme weather, together with major flooding.

I disagree with my noble friend Lord Banner, whom I welcome to his place. I chaired the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee when we did a degree of work looking at how, if we were to dispense with the badger cull, we would have to accept badgers continuing, across the country, to introduce TB into herds that are currently not infected. I urge my noble friend to reconsider his views in this regard; in saying that, I hope not to be attacked by badger lovers, as I have been previously.

I would like to say a word on sites of special scientific interest. As I mentioned previously, I understand that changes to those schemes must be endorsed by Natural England. Does it have the resources? Will the Minister look at this and perhaps write to me afterwards?

Following today’s report, I ask the Minister to set out what is going to change. Will Defra be clearer about how its 30 by 30 ambition links with other policies, including the Environment Act, the protected landscape targets, the land use framework, the local nature recovery strategies, Natural England’s designation programme and national planning policies? Will she ensure that there is an SFI option for upland and moorland to ensure a sustainable future for upland and family farms? Will Defra ensure that farmers and other businesses working in the countryside are able to do their jobs, while enhancing the environment as conservationists at the same time?