Our policy priorities for nature, beauty and history

The National Trust has been caring for the nation’s best-loved places for 128 years. Our charity’s Victorian founders believed that everyone has a right to nature, beauty and history, so they set up the Trust “to promote the permanent preservation for the benefit of the nation of lands and tenements (including buildings) of beauty or historic interest”.

Today, the Trust has nearly six million members, 40,000 volunteers and 10,000 staff. As the biggest conservation charity in Europe, we care for the habitat of more than a third of the UK’s threatened species across coastline, river and countryside, and hundreds of historic sites and buildings.

We are committed to caring for these places for everyone, forever. So part of my responsibility as director-general is to consider the challenges of our next 128 years.

The next general election will have a profound impact on all our futures. Nature and our climate are facing an emergency. As a nation, we have legal commitments to reach net zero by 2050 and reverse the decline of nature by 2030, both of which will require concerted action.

The Trust has a long history of contributing to the challenges of the day: from the need for green spaces for Victorian city dwellers, to the post-war dissolution of country houses and collections, to the over-development of Britain’s coastline. This means acting as partner, friend and critic to governments, while never straying into party politics.

So we won’t shy away from our responsibility to take part in today’s debates on the state of nature, the climate and local pride of place.

All parties talk about their desire to leave the environment in a better state for future generations, but we haven’t seen policy to match the scale of the challenge. We know from the recent State of Nature report by leading wildlife scientists that nature is still in decline, while the Climate Change Committee says the UK’s climate response lacks urgency. We need action and delivery now.

This is not about the environment versus the economy. A long-term approach will benefit both and improve people’s lives, rather than more short-termism.

We have three asks.

Firstly, with Britain being one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and bottom of the G7 in this regard, we must accelerate progress towards the renewal of nature.

Just 3 per cent of UK land and 8 per cent of our seas are properly protected, while every river in England is polluted beyond legal limits.

I know that the state of our rivers and waterways is of huge concern to our members and the public, and to i, which has run an effective campaign on the issue. Chalk streams running dry. Wildlife destroyed due to agricultural run-off. Our seas pumped with raw sewage.

The sad truth is that the condition of our rivers is indicative of the health of all UK nature: abused and polluted, too long taken for granted.

We have to halt the decline of nature now.

Each party must set out a clear plan for how it will achieve the UK’s commitment to conserve 30 per cent of our land and seas for nature by 2030.

We want to see a clear commitment to rivers that are healthy for nature and for people by that date. This will mean watchdogs being given more teeth and tackling both sewage and agricultural pollution.

Secondly, we know climate change is the major threat to our heritage, landscapes and natural environment. It poses significant problems for places the Trust cares for, from coastal erosion and flooding – seen in recent days at a number of our properties – to climate-related damage to historic collections. The UK must do its bit to tackle climate change and achieve net zero.

A place where we need to make major progress is making homes more energy efficient. With more than one in five homes built before 1919, the Government needs a dedicated plan to tackle historic buildings.

We should start by expanding the green workforce – creating more plumbers, electricians and construction workers with the skills to retrofit historic homes and businesses. Historic buildings typically have low-energy performance, and therefore a higher carbon footprint.

Retrofitting – such as making sure windows and heating systems are more energy efficient – lowers emissions and can prolong the life of an older building. It avoids the carbon emissions associated with demolishing and building new properties – particularly the large amount associated with cement and steel.

The Trust has invested ￡175m in its historic residential let estate over the past seven years. But there is much more to be done. A national strategy to make our historic buildings and homes greener could reduce their carbon emissions by over 60 per cent by 2050, creating ￡35bn for the UK economy and 105,000 new jobs.

It is madness that we incentivise demolition and rebuilding rather than reuse of older buildings. While VAT on new build construction is set at zero, it’s 20 per cent for housing repair, maintenance and restoration. This not only encourages behaviour that damages the climate, but also risks eroding the heritage of our communities.

We are calling on all political parties to commit to equalising the VAT rate for repairs on older buildings to that of new build, protecting our heritage and equipping it for the future.

Thirdly, we need to ensure everyone can benefit from high quality nature and heritage where they live.

With four-fifths of us now living in urban areas, we need to mirror the ambition of Victorian Britons, including our co-founder Octavia Hill, and create more green space in our towns and cities.

The Trust is calling for a legally binding target so everyone can access green space within a 15-minute walk from their home, backed by a clear plan to achieve it.

Our research shows investment in green space would return four times its cost in health benefits, as well as making places more attractive for business investment and improving climate resilience and boosting biodiversity.

We know there is huge public appetite to address these issues. When people are asked about local pride, parks are one of their top-rated assets, while eighty-one per cent of the public think more needs to be done to protect and restore nature.

It won’t be enough to succeed in just one of these challenges. We need a new way of thinking that makes the most of our fantastic natural and cultural heritage, and supports the long-term prosperity, health and wellbeing of our nations.

Text originally published in the i newspaper, 26/10/2023 -https://inews.co.uk/opinion/national-trust-political-parties-fail-environment-2708450