Countryside campaigners call for nature to be at heart of planning system

Conservation groups also called on the Government to recognise the value of the resources – from pollination of food crops to improving mental health – that nature provides.

And Ministers must set out how they intend to protect and improve the country’s landscapes and wildlife, the groups said in the wake of a report last week showing the services nature provides are worth billions to the economy but a third are in decline.

The Natural Environment White Paper is expected to include measures to create large-scale “nature improvement areas”, where communities, landowners and environment groups focus on restoring natural habitats and improving existing wildlife sites and the connections between them.

The Woodland Trust welcomed news it will put emphasis on the importance of creating woodlands and recognise the role of woods for dealing with climate change and flooding, but raised concerns it contains no tree-planting target.

The National Trust said the paper needed to include measures to shift from “net losses” in nature to “net gains”, for the Treasury to account for natural capital alongside GDP. The charity also called for efforts to reconnect people with nature, such as including access to countryside for preventative healthcare and teaching schoolchildren outside the classroom.

The organisation said the White Paper was Prime Minister David Cameron’s main instrument for demonstrating and driving forward his commitment to lead the greenest government ever but with a key report by Professor Sir John Lawton last year warning £1bn a year would be needed to protect the environment in England, and the Environment Department signing up to some of the severest budget cuts, there are concerns about how it will be delivered.

The National Trust’s Helen Meech said that much could be provided with smarter use of existing public funding, for example shifting more farming subsidies to environmentally friendly schemes or using money set aside for free gym passes to get people into the countryside.