Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

I have great sympathy with the amendment of my noble friend Lord Dixon-Smith. I am not totally attracted to the word ““developed””, as the noble Lord, Lord Judd, said. I am not sure that this is a natural word for our English landscape. I am also not attracted to the word ““enhanced””, which I also have difficulty over. There are already very good examples around our landscape of climate change. Currently, oak is dying out substantially in some areas of the Cotswolds. Nobody knows for certain what is causing this but it is suggested that it is due to climate change. As it gets warmer, oak comes under more stress and subsequently dies. The word ““enhanced”” does not allow English Nature to recommend the planting of a different species, perhaps Mediterranean oak or the like. We are told that the beech of the Cotswolds, where I come from, will not survive a rise in temperature if the climate change, as predicted, goes ahead. Therefore, there needs to be some sort of wording to allow English Nature—or Natural England as it will become—to allow estates, farmlands, communities or whatever, to move forward and plants trees as an insurance policy, so that when the climate change comes along, we have trees left in our environment. I am also concerned about the word ““enhanced””, and I am interested in its definition. ““Conservation”” appears in the Bill before ““enhanced””. For instance, Clause 2, entitled ““General purpose””, subsection (2)(b), refers to,"““conserving and enhancing the landscape””." One has to question whether ““conserving”” or ““enhancing”” is more important. Often enhancing is not conducive to conserving—and I take ““conserving”” as meaning conserving that landscape in its historical state. Therefore, in the phrase ““conserving and enhancing the landscape””, I wonder which comes first. Does conserving come first and is it overarching over all the rest of them or can Natural England pick out as and when it wants which of those two words is more important? It would be helpful if the Minister could help us on what is really meant. In conclusion, the amendment ensures that this provision does what the Minister wants; that is, it gives a wide ability to Natural England to go forward and deal with our landscape, to protect and preserve it for the next generation. Being caught with this wording would, in my experience, tend to make its officers do something that is detrimental to the landscape and not what the caretaker of that landscape wants.