Defra asks England’s biggest landowners to come up with plans to restore nature

Steve Reed has met with some of England’s biggest landowners, asking them to come up with meaningful plans to restore nature on their estates.

Representatives for King Charles and Prince William were among those asked by the environment secretary to draft new land management plans to help meet legally binding Environmental Act targets

Between them, the assembled “National Estate for Nature” group own 10% of England’s land, making their cooperation crucial if ministers are to halt nature decline.

Reed called them to action to collectively protect and restore nature across England, asking them to report back on new approaches for sustainable land use, land management, change, or investment. He said the group should set minimum standards for land management plans, with clear milestones for nature restoration and protections.

Lindsay Waddell, former Chairman of the National Gamekeepers Organisation, told ST: “It will be interesting to see just what landowners can do for nature that many aren’t already doing given that large expanses of what they own are let to tenant farmers who are having the pips squeezed out of them, while it is the water companies who are largely responsible for the awful state of our rivers.