On Wednesday I introduced a proposed piece of legislation to amend the Wildlife and Countryside Act to transfer powers to the DEFRA Secretary of State for the formal designation of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The Act was last amended in 1981 - since then, significant other legislation to protect and enhance the natural environment has entered the statute book (most notable is the Environment Act). If my Bill was adopted by Government, the main change would be that Natural England would still identify sites for designation and collate the data and scientific evidence to support this level of protection. It would be then for the Secretary of State to scrutinise this evidence and decide if Natural England are correct in their assessment.
I’ve drafted this legislation because the process of formally designating the Penwith Moors and Downs SSSI last year united both farmers and environment groups in their concern for the way Natural England determined the process, the quality of data and the original inclusion of 1000 acres of pastureland. The irony was that the designation in itself was widely supported but Natural England failed to engage adequately with landowners, assumed much of the existence of both matter in need of protection and matter that caused harm - in fact, only now is Natural England testing water quality - something we all expected would be done before the SSSI was adopted. What incensed me most was that the reason given for including the pastureland was that there was a risk of pollution. I suspect that, if the Secretary of State had been the one to formally confirm the designation, they would have asked to see the calculation and paused the confirmation until the evidence was robust. This will be the approach in future if my Bill is successful.
You can watch my speech here: https://www.facebook.com/derekthomas.org/videos/406535745300470/
I was on Scilly at the end of last week. Meetings related to finding ways to reduce the cost of transport to and from Scilly, particularly during the winter, progressing the plan to build an integrated health care hub on the St Mary’s Hospital site and trying to free up a self-build building project that is faced with significant unexpected freight costs due to the ground conditions on Scilly. I also met with several parents who are deeply concerned about the arrangements and facilities available to them when their children leave the islands to access post 16 education. There is an urgent need to improve the current arrangements and I’m hopeful that between the school, council, parents and myself, we will be able to deliver a far better set of circumstances for these young people as they go on to pursue further and higher education.
The key points from the Chancellor’s Budget is that this year total tax taken from most employee pay packets will drop from 32% to 28% when you combine both income tax and National Insurance. The increase in the VAT threshold for businesses will also help as will the freeze on fuel duty and support in relation to business rates.
