The Wildlife Trusts

I mean, it's very striking, particularly in this country where our nature NGOs are among the biggest in the world.

RSPB and the Wildlife Trust have both, I think, got over a million members each.

And then the National Trust, I think it's got 6 million members.

And we love wildlife programs.

They had different organisations, mainly kind of NGOs, charity organisations.

People at the Wildlife Trust were there, right the way across the UK.

In particular, they talked about nature recovery, nature restoration, particularly around the reintroduction of native species that may have become extinct in the past or extinct.

looking after those species that are currently at risk of potential extinction.

The River Clyde used to be a bit of a mess and it's now, you know, quite a clean river.

And I sat in on a Wildlife Trust seminar, a river basin management capture area in the River Clyde a month ago.

And, you know, a lot of the different organisations going through, you know, what's good what's not so good you know the catchment area above you know which will be our farms and how they affect downstream you know through Glasgow and then into the River Clyde and you know SEPA we're really happy the Clyde's still on a good trajectory it's clean now it's had to deal with sewage it's had to deal with agricultural runoff but I would say it's been a success story so I'd ask you to to get in touch with your contemporaries in Scotland and and learn from how Scotland has learned from a river that wasn't that clean.

And I think there's a lot we can do by collaborating with others, you know, in the industry, in your industry.

So...

I started off working within the wildlife trusts movement.

When I finished university, I originally wanted to be kind of working outside.

So working on nature reserves or directly in conservation, that kind of thing.

But then sort of fell into fundraising instead within environmental charities.

So kind of worked in a local wildlife trust for about four or five years.

Then I moved to their head office.

And then from there made the jump into something completely different, a small charity that was working kind of international development type work.

Alastair is the deputy director at Natural England, responsible for the NRF.

Matt is head of public affairs for the Wildlife Trusts.

Phil is director of place at South Norfolk and Broadland Councils and sits on the board of Norfolk Environmental Credits, and Nina is a barrister at Cornerstone Chambers.

In a conversation recorded online just a couple of days ago, they talked about how the EDP and NRF will work, both insofar as the practicalities for applicants and LPAs are concerned, as well as being expected to operate alongside existing credit markets.

Matt, I'm gonna bring you back and, um, I really could have, uh, just let you set the scene for all, all of the discussion because I'm coming back to another point that you raised in your, um, introductory intervention, which is this, um, uh, intention for potential partnership working, where you mentioned the possibility of interceptor wetlands, for example, between sewage treatment works or even combined sewer outfalls and the watercourse which they discharge into.

And I know that there's been, um, some thinking about the potential for allowing permitted development rights, for example, to statutory water undertakers to carry out wetland creation, um, without the requirement for planning permission.

And, um, so is partnership working like that something that the wildlife trusts are looking at doing under the EDP or more broadly? Um, and, um, is permitted development rights something that you'd look-- like to get a look in on as well? Um, what are your comments on partnership working more generally?

Yeah.

He's called Dr Rob Stoneman.

He's from the Wildlife Trust, and the Wildlife Trust have come out this week.

They've done a massive piece of research, and they now claim that for every £1 invested in restoring rivers, we could generate £7 in benefits, which is amazing.

Like, absolutely amazing.

[upbeat music]

[upbeat music]Dr Rob, thank you so much for joining us.

Now listen, obviously everyone knows exactly who you are, what the Wildlife Trust is, but before we get going, can you give everyone a little reminder?

Yeah, of course.

I keep talking about bat tunnels, but I think what's really striking to me in seeing this at the party conferences is just how what people in the environment sector would describe as a myth has really taken hold.

It's just people believe it, and I think it was Craig Bennett from Wildlife Trust a, a few weeks ago, I saw him describe this as like the kind of bendy banana of the environment sector, and it's kind of true.

It feels like this has been weaponized.

The unfortunate thing is there's probably a lot of people out there who don't really know what Natural England is or does, but will just see it as this body that's imposing these, these mad things on these projects.