From Hampshire to the Humber, England’s best-loved wetlands face one of their biggest threats.
As it stands, the government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill is set to downgrade hard-won environmental protections and leave some of our most nature-rich habitats at risk of being concreted over. These include wetlands designated under the Ramsar Convention – home to rare migratory waterbirds and supposedly protected under international law.
With 75% of the UK’s wetlands lost in the last 300 years, we should be restoring our blue spaces, not destroying them.
We don’t have long. As the Planning Bill comes under scrutiny in parliament, we’re calling on MPs to speak up for wetlands, before it’s too late.
Wetlands of international significance
From coastal meadows and mudflats to giant tidal estuaries, England is home to some of the most important wetlands in the world for wildlife.
For the last fifty years, these wetlands have been protected under the Ramsar Convention, a flagship agreement in international law. But the government’s Planning Bill threatens to roll back these legal protections in the planning system under the misleading claim that they are blocking development.
These wetlands are some of our most precious habitats for people and wildlife, and many of them are already in poor condition.
Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Map of Ramsar sites in England. Source: Natural England
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Nature is the builder of healthy communities, not the blocker. And when asked, the answer is clear – people want to live in neighbourhoods with blue and green spaces at their heart.
It’s not too late for the government to reconsider. To make space for water at the centre of our communities. To focus policy on restoring wetlands, not destroying them.
But they won’t act unless we speak up.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is going through Parliament right now.
If left unchecked, it could spell disaster for wetlands. The government is coming under immense pressure - if enough of us write to our MPs, we can get them to change direction.
Will you join the call?
