And now?
change is the driving word of the new government ... what changes do we want to see?
I started this petition - to get the then Conservative government to make changes to the planning law to help hedgehogs …
I did not have high hopes, but was, in 2019, delighted when James Brokenshire did change guidance to the National Planning Policy Framework - to include hedgehog highways in new developments. However, as many of you will know, the guidance came without teeth, so I continued.
The British Hedgehog Preservation Society has also been working on this - talking to developers. I believe it is crucial that we continue to keep the pressure on the Local Planning Authorities and the developers - we can make a difference if we get them to accept the need to work with us to help hedgehogs.
Now we have a new government - one that has as its key word, CHANGE … so what is it that we would like to see? I don’t mean from their manifesto - but what is it that we would like to see done differently to help hedgehogs and all the other wildlife that we depend upon?
They are talking about a massive housebuilding programme - which is much needed to try and make the market fairer - how can this be done in such a way as to not undermine nature?
I would love to see some of your ideas - do you think that pursuing developers and planners is the best way forward? Should we be looking elsewhere?
A tangent to close ...
I was looking for a photo for a lecture I was giving today (the EcoJudaism awards) and bumped into the image I use here - meeting Rowan Williams was a delight and he told me a story that would have been brilliant to get into my book, A Prickly Affair - which I was giving him at the time … the story is really quite surprising … shall I tell you?
Oh, okay … Rowan Williams is mentioned in the book as he chose The Hedgehog Song, from the Incredible String Band as one of his tracks on Desert Island Discs - it is a lovely song - but when he told his PR staff of the choice they were aghast … because there is another song with the same name.
This song was the work of Nanny Ogg (well, Terry Pratchett if I am being honest) and it is so very very rude!!! I won’t even provide a link here, but, if you are brave - search for it and you can see why there was shock … how could they explain the then Archbishop having a song about bestiality on his list!!!!
Can you think of any other suitable hedgehog songs?? Not that I am heading to the Desert Island!!!
I personally believe, and I also said this to my new labour MP regarding housing in a survey as well, that, if they have to build anymore houses, then to prioritise building on brown belt land only, absolutely NO greenbelt land, and to renovate empty, disused and antiquated buildings (empty houses, businesses, hotels, restaurants, flats etc) first too. I also believe that there should be a legal requirement for any and ALL newly built/renovated buildings to come with installed solar panels, heat pumps, water butts, hedgehog highways, composters etc as standard. The amount of new built homes that I have seen (probably also built on greenbelt/natural land) that haven't got solar panels, heat pumps, hedgehog highways etc installed is both heartbreaking and immensely frustrating to me. We have virtually all the answers to curbing climate change and the loss of biodiversity but the solutions are not being rolled out anywhere near fast enough in the right places!! I think we need to go after both the developers and the government, as the developers are the ones building/renovating but only the government can mandate the laws and enforce them. We need to persuade and enforce both the government and the developers to do this in my opinion.
WE NEED MORE PROTECTION FOR WILDLIFE NO MORE BUILDING ON GREENBELT LAND , MORE TREES PLANTED WILDLIFE PONDS ,KEEP GREEN SPACES FOR WILDLIFE TO THRIVE.