Thank you for contacting me about the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP).
My ministerial colleagues and I are committed to leaving the environment in a better state than we found it. The Government has already delivered with legally binding targets to halt nature’s decline, clean up our air and rivers and support a circular economy. The UK played an instrumental role in a new global agreement for nature at the UN nature summit COP15. Through its transformational farming schemes, the Government will pay farmers and land managers to restore nature.
The new Environmental Improvement Plan sets out how the Government will achieve its ambitious environmental targets, the most critical of which is to halt the decline of nature by the end of this decade. It also includes a new commitment that everyone should be able to access green space or water within a 15-minute walk from their home, such as woodlands, wetlands, parks, and rivers.
Through the EIP, the Government has also committed to a multi-million pound Species Survival Fund to protect some of our rarest species. Through the support of Government schemes, 65 to 80 per cent of landowners and farmers will adopt nature-friendly farming practices on at least 10 to 15 per cent of their land by 2030. They will also be supported to create or restore 30,000 miles of hedgerows a year by 2037 and 45,000 miles of hedgerows a year by 2050.
Further, Ministers have set out ten actions on water efficiency in new developments, and will restore 400 miles of river through the first round of Landscape Recovery projects and establish 3,000 hectares of new woodlands along England’s rivers. Local authorities will be challenged to improve air quality more quickly by assessing their performance and use of existing powers, while supporting them with clear guidance, funding, and tools. Regarding waste, the Government will make it easier to minimise waste, with new interim targets for 2028 to reduce different types of waste, including plastic, glass, metal, paper, and
food. The EIP sets out a clear framework to ensure that progress can be clearly tracked.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.