King’s Speech

Lord Bishop of St Albans Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

My Lords, I declare my interest as president of the Rural Coalition and add my congratulations to the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock, on her new role.

As a long-term advocate for rural areas and the people who live and work in them, I know that our farmers and rural communities are uniquely placed to deliver the Government’s missions of clean energy, increased building and the need to protect and restore our environment. Rural communities and rural businesses play an absolutely crucial role in the economic and social fabric of our country.

I welcome His Majesty’s Government’s plans to introduce measures to tackle pollution in our rivers, lakes and waterways. In my diocese of St Albans, covering Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, we are home to several of this country’s beautiful chalk streams, which, despite being extraordinarily rare and precious habitats, have been utterly devastated by both extraction and pollution. For example, the River Ver in Hertfordshire has been found to have six times higher levels of E. coli than is acceptable in bathing water. Between March and June this year, sewage was discharged directly into the River Ver for more than 2,400 hours.

I appreciate that agricultural run-off is also a problem when it comes to ensuring that our rivers are kept clean and healthy. That is why it is vital that the Government work closely with Britain’s farmers, as well as investing in research and development for better fertilisers and solutions to reduce the volume of manure and slurry. There have, in fact, been planning applications for slurry storage or energy-efficient greenhouses turned down as a result of environmental considerations—an outcome that is not only frustrating but counterproductive to what we are trying to achieve. Local authorities need to have access to the appropriate expertise when making decisions on these applications. The planning practice guidance needs to be much clearer, with more flexibility built in so that farm businesses are able to build the infrastructure they need to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

I welcome warmly this Government’s recognition of the fact that food security is part of national security. I was pleased to see the pledge to source a minimum of 50% of government-procured food from British producers. It is encouraging to see that the security of British farming is high up on the agenda both for the public and the Government. This is why I echo the National Farmers’ Union’s call for an increased, multi-year agricultural budget to secure the future of Britain’s farming industry and to ensure that farmers and government can work together to move forward towards sustainable food production, environment targets and net zero. We need to work in collaboration with, not in opposition to, our vitally important farming sector.

Several noble colleagues on these Benches raised concerns during the passage of the recent Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Act that the import of animals and animal product raised under welfare standards that would be illegal here are damaging British agricultural business. Battery-cage eggs and poultry production is banned here, yet our producers have been undercut by imported eggs and poultry reared to lower standards. I look forward to hearing more detail on His Majesty’s Government’s plans to ensure that our own producers are provided with a level playing field and to ensure that these safeguards are a central bedrock of any trade deals.

Finally, I would like to make a few comments on housing. We are all aware that this is a huge challenge; if there were lots of quick wins, the previous Government would have grabbed them straightaway. I am grateful for the approach being taken by Homes for All, the coalition trying to take a strategic and systemic approach to increasing housebuilding. My particular interest, over many years, is rural housing and the rural housing crisis. It is a problem that is different from the challenge of building in many urban centres. It is crucial the Government recognise the specificity of the housing crisis in rural areas and the way that this impacts rural communities differently, not least in ensuring long- term rural sustainability. We had hoped our previous Government would provide us with a long-term strategy; I hope that this Government will consider doing so.

Over many years, we have seen the closure of rural shops, schools and services from rural areas, partly linked to the lack of genuinely affordable housing. We have also seen the drain of young people and families—indeed, sometimes the elderly—as they are being forced to leave homes and communities, often where they have deep roots and have lived all their lives. Local communities need to be informing decisions around building new houses to ensure that they fit into the locality, as well as being well-designed and of good quality; ultimately, they need to strengthen the community. I call on His Majesty’s Government to consider, as part of their reforms to planning, introducing a planning passport for rural exemption sites which have been highlighted as an avenue of great potential for mitigating the housing crisis. Future policies need to be sensitive to rural housing. That is not just the responsibility of Defra; it must happen across all government departments. It is why we need proper rural-proofing applied systematically to all legislation that comes to your Lordships’ House.

With the right support and investment, the rural economy can add billions to the national economy, contributing towards this Government’s mission to kick-start economic growth, as well as holding the potential to play a vital part in making Britain a clean energy superpower. I look forward to working with the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock, in the coming years on these issues and others for the common good of our nation.