Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Biodiversity

Thursday 10 March 2022 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Department is taking steps to support biodiversity and rewilding in local urban communities through local nature recovery strategies and investments of 750 million through the nature for climate fund.
  • The Environment Act 2021 includes a strengthened duty on local authorities to assess what they can do to further conservation and biodiversity.
  • The Government aims to get as many countries as possible to sign up to the convention on biological diversity at COP15.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Damien Moore Con
Local Government Environment
Context

Damien Moore raises concerns about the importance of urban green spaces for biodiversity and highlights a local issue regarding Sefton Council's plans to reduce vegetation along pavements.

Question

What steps his Department is taking to support biodiversity and rewilding in local urban communities. Local urban communities such as Southport benefit enormously from trees, shrubbery and other green spaces that promote biodiversity and rewilding, but there are strong concerns among my constituents that Sefton Council is planning to cut back the greenery along Southport's pavements and replace it with concrete blocks for cycle lanes.

Answer from Rebecca Pow

Through our local nature recovery strategies, we will identify local priorities for nature recovery including urban areas. We are investing £750 million through the nature for climate fund and urge my hon Friend to look at funding available like the local authority treescapes fund and the urban tree challenge fund.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific plan by Sefton Council was not addressed, and there is no commitment to support Moore's attempts to prevent nature destruction.

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Q2 Damien Moore Con
Environment
Context

Sefton Council is considering replacing vegetation along Southport's pavements with concrete blocks, raising concerns among the local community about biodiversity loss.

Question

Local urban communities such as Southport benefit enormously from trees, shrubbery and other green spaces that promote biodiversity and rewilding, but there are strong concerns among my constituents that Sefton Council is planning to cut back the greenery along Southport's pavements and replace it with concrete blocks for cycle lanes. So will my hon Friend support my attempts to fight this nature crime—a potential tree massacre—by Labour-controlled Sefton Council?

Answer from Rebecca Pow

Through our Environment Act 2021, we have a strengthened duty on local authorities to assess what they can do to further conservation and biodiversity. We also have that world-leading target to halt the decline in nature. I urge my hon Friend to work with the council and get it to do more; it could replace those concrete blocks with hedges which would help tackle air pollution.

Partly answered

Not addressed: While encouraging engagement, there is no direct support for Moore's efforts or a commitment against replacing vegetation with concrete blocks.

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Q3 Alex Sobel Labour (Co-op) Leeds Central and Headingley
Climate Environment
Context

The UN Biodiversity COP15 is imminent, focusing on halting global biodiversity loss.

Question

How bio- diversity and renaturing is undertaken in the UK will be guided by the convention on biological diversity. Biodiversity has experienced a catastrophic collapse globally. The United Nations biodiversity COP15 is shortly to resume. What are the Government's strategic goals at COP15? What equivalent headline target is there to the net zero target at COP26, which is well understood in local urban communities and across the UK?

Answer from Rebecca Pow

We have a strengthened duty on local authorities to assess what they can do to further conservation and biodiversity. The aim of the CBD is to get as many countries as possible to sign up to that.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific strategic goals at COP15 were not outlined, and there was no mention of a headline target equivalent to net zero.

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