The Climate Media Coalition is working to ensure that the UK’s media leadership fully grasp the scale of the national and international wildlife crises. Globally, we have destroyed more than 70 % of nature since the 1970s and alarmingly the UK is the 12th-most depleted nation on Earth, having lost over half of all native species.
As part of CMC’s continued media outreach efforts, director, Donnachadh McCarthy, recently appeared on Breakfast News to defend UK nature against proposals from both the national and London Labour governments to weaken Green Belt protections around the UK’s major cities.
▶️ https://youtu.be/M6N_Z6EgiQM?t=5628
While the Labour representative from pro-building “Labour Yimbies” Alliance (Yes, In My Back Yard) backed carving up the Green Belt to create so-called “Grey Belts”, Donnachadh brought forward the crucial facts that:
- 16% of UK prime agricultural land lies within the Green Belt;
- the Green Belt contains 50% of our vital country parks and 10% of our nature reserves;
- half of Green Belt farmland is already in agri-environment schemes.
A government that protects people and our planet must protect and enhance the ecological value of the Green Belt, not perforate it with grey developments that further decimate what remaining areas wildlife and nature have to survive in.
There are already 500,000 homes approved for construction within the Green Belt. If Labour further opens the floodgates, nature will be further eradicated, and our cities risk being hemmed in by Grey Belts. At the same time, developers are sitting on planning permission for over one million homes, holding out for rising land values and larger profits.
To unlock those homes, Donnachadh argued for applying council tax to plots with consented homes that remain unbuilt after a year. He also called for housing on the readily available extensive urban land which is currently wasted on oversized retail car parks, single-storey retail parks and under-used public-sector sites.
Both presenters were supportive. Stephen Dixon said Donnachadh’s proposals on land banks, brownfield development and keeping Green Belt building as a last resort “made sense”, while Ellie Costello added:
“Donnachadh is right here. You would not get public support for this [Green Belt use]. You would be striking fear into many British people. You would be building on our green and pleasant land.”
When the Labour Yimbies spokesperson dismissed the Green Belt as “not the Amazon rainforest”, Donnachadh replied that 99 % of the UK’s precious temperate rainforest has already been lost, so any degraded Green Belt land should be repaired and improved, not built over.
The media play a pivotal role in either protecting and restoring or further eroding Britain’s decimated wildlife. The Climate Media Coalition will continue to press British and global media leaders to stand up for our irreplaceable wildlife heritage.
Please urge the outlets you follow to adopt our Climate Media Charter.
