Scott Mann has welcomed a speech from the Prime Minister to implement a 25 Year Environment Plan that aims to protect Britain’s natural beauty and ensure that our reliance on single-use plastics is reversed.
In her speech, Theresa May said:
“As we leave the European Union, which for decades has controlled some of the most important levers of environmental policy, now is the right time to put the question of how we protect and enhance our natural environment centre-stage”.
"The United Kingdom is blessed with a wonderful variety of natural landscapes and habitats and our 25 Year Environment Plan sets out our comprehensive and long-term approach to protecting and enhancing them in England for the next generation."
As well as clamping down on plastics, the Plan also aims to:
- Create an independent green watchdog to hold future governments to account.
- 2019 Year of Green Action – A year-long campaign to encourage people to engage with environmental issues.
- Plan to plant one million trees in Britain’s urban areas by 2022.
- Plastic waste targets and taxes to discourage their use.
- Plastic-free supermarket aisles.
- Sustainable fishing policy in the wake of our departure from the EU.
- Global deforestation initiative – a cross-government initiative working with NGOs, businesses, and producer countries to reduce deforestation.
- National anti-litter campaign.
Welcoming the Plan, Scott Mann said:
“When my office and I went on a beach clean in 2017, we were shocked by the sheer amount of rubbish we collected from the beach in the space of an hour. I am fully committed to working with the Government to ensure our natural environment is protected for future generations.
"Consultation is already underway for a bottle deposit return scheme which would reward people for returning plastic bottles back to the shops, and the Environment Secretary also intends to bring forward a reformed farm subsidy system which focuses on using land for public good and countryside stewardship."
Environment Secretary Michael Gove said:
“Nothing can be more vital than the future of our environment and the natural world. We are their custodians and we must safeguard their future if our ambition for a Green Brexit is to become a reality.”
