A FEW weeks ago, we were reliably informed by Michael Gove, that we would be heading for a greener future after Brexit. Amongst proposals on the table was a new legislative watchdog that would help to enforce a raft of new policy measures; and if enacted could help to reduce or reverse the decline of a wide range of species.

We also saw a glimmer of what a new farming system could look like after Brexit-where farmers are rewarded for producing fairly-priced food for the UK market-place and subsidies are tied to good environmental practice.

Gove even suggested we could have a future in which beaver grace our rivers once again and where large tracts of the UK are eventually “re-wilded”.

I have to say I looked on this new vision with a degree of real optimism; tinged with an awareness that we would collectively need to push quite hard to make sure this new vision became a new reality……

It was made more urgent when a series of reports out over the past few weeks indicated that UK wildlife species are in continued decline. Some of our most iconic species are so rare, that measuring the on-going decline in percentage terms has become nearly impossible (that is because they occur at so few sites.) In less than 10 years we are almost certain to lose turtle dove and that could be followed soon after by nightingale, wood warbler and willow tit. In Hampshire we are down to our last half dozen sites for all these species.

There are also huge challenges for our National Parks and National Nature Reserves. With squeezed funding and a real threat of further cuts after 2020-we risk losing some incredible landscapes to lack of money. We need to be proud of what we have, and I worry that bullying from treasury could result in an increasingly impoverished countryside.

In to this perfect storm comes some very aggressive comments from Treasury that suggest Gove’s vision of a green Britain is just a pipe dream. They have suggested we should be aiming for a new environmental policy that “advises” rather than “enforces” best practice. Effectively this would become a toothless strategy-in which UK developers and other land owners are able to do what they want, where they want, without any fear of significant implications (such as financial penalties for inappropriate development).

So what next? In simple terms we absolutely need your help. Write to your MP and appeal to them to encourage government to take a firm line on ensuring we have really strong environmental legislation. None of us voted for a grey Brexit-many of us voted in the hope of a greener future. There is a still a chance that we can salvage a good deal for nature. But it will take a determined effort from all of us to say no to a grey future. Let’s give Michael Gove our full support!!