Sixty years ago this month, a group of people passionate about protecting our county’s wildlife signed the founding document that led to the formation of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. Those pioneers felt that enough was enough. They were no longer prepared to stand by and watch precious wildlife habitats damaged, degraded and destroyed.
Sixty years on, those of us charged with maintaining the legacy of our founding members feel very much the same.
Photo © Stephen Varley
Attenborough Nature Reserve
Many of our reserves only exist due to high profile campaigns to save them and also rely upon wildlife and environmental laws to ensure they remain protected.
Whilst our nature reserves, including the much loved Attenborough, vast Idle Valley and remnants of Sherwood Forest such as Rainworth Heath, are the most tangible aspect of our efforts to protect and restore the county’s wildlife, our local and national campaigning work is vital to protecting what wildlife remains and ensuring we can put nature into recovery.
In fact, many of the nature reserves we care for only exist today because of passionate campaigns to save them, stretching back to the 1960s. Campaigning is in our charity’s DNA. For almost 60 years we have stood up for Nottinghamshire’s wildlife by fighting damaging planning proposals, challenging poor policies and demanding better protection for our wildlife and environment.
Whilst awareness of the importance of nature to our health, happiness and wellbeing is greater than ever, the threats to its future are also at an all-time high. Despite our many notable successes in protecting wild places, success replicated by Wildlife Trusts and others across the UK; species and habitats have continued to decline at an alarming rate.
Against a backdrop of spiralling nature and climate crises, and limited time to put nature on a path to recovery, the raft of potentially damaging deregulatory polices announced by the Government since the summer came as a real blow.
We already had a battle on our hands but felt the tide was turning. After decades of campaigning based on sound science, we thought the Government understood, at least in principle, the importance of a healthy, biodiverse environment. Sure, there would be fights ahead about the best policies to deliver a cleaner, wildlife-rich environment and arguments about the pace of change, but it seemed there was common ground on the direction of travel.
The Government’s ‘mini budget’ and accompanying Growth Plan somewhat shattered this perception overnight. The response from wildlife charities and the public was visceral. Now, whilst the subsequent change of Prime Minister has brought a softer tone to Government announcements, vague promises to protect the environment and a u-turn on a u-turn on fracking; much of the worrying, recently laid deregulatory architecture remains in place. As I write, the Retained (EU) Law Bill - which could see up to 1000 environmental laws and regulations, wiped from the stature books – is quietly trundling through parliament whilst many people, MPs included are yet to realise the potential scale of its impact.
Hedgehog © Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography
Wildlife continues to decline at an alarming rate with many once common species now threatened.
Our reaction was one of anger and we remain angry, but we are determined to channel our concerns into continuing to fight wildlife’s corner. Just as we have when shielding Mission Carr Nature Reserve from fracking; helping prevent damaging development next to Quarry Lane Local Nature Reserve in Mansfield or working with local campaigners to prevent quarrying on designated Wildlife Sites opposite Attenborough Nature Reserve. We can make a difference.
Our fight is not a party political one. As we have consistently demonstrated down the years, our role is to give nature, and the people who care about it, a voice and we will continue to do so.
As we continue to respond to the climate and ecological crises, we know we must do more.
As well as working to hold the Government’s feet to the fire to ensure it delivers on promises to restore nature, so far this year we have responded to over 150 planning applications across Nottinghamshire that threatened wildlife. We also continue to provide advice to local planners to make the most of opportunities to put nature back - but this requires resources.
As we approach our 60th Anniversary year, we are, for the first time in a long time, specifically asking the public for financial support to enable us to continue standing up for wildlife.
As we recommit to standing up for wildlife at this challenging time I would ask you to consider a donation to help us fight to protect wildlife and natural greenspaces across our county.
For details of the Trust’s efforts to stand up for Nottinghamshire’s wildlife and how you can help click the button below.
