BORDERS PEST CONTROL

Is DEFRA up to the job? asks committee of MPs

By Alastair Balmain

Friday, 07 November 2008

Rural communities have been marginalised and neglected by this Government, according to a cross-party committee of MPs tasked with overseeing the Government’s handling of rural affairs.

Last week, in a stinging report entitled “The Potential of England’s Rural Economy”, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee (Efra) concluded that “there is, at the very least, a strong perception amongst those involved that rural affairs are being marginalised in Defra”. The committee highlighted shortcomings in the department in particular to its understanding of the way in which the rural economy operates and stated that Defra has focused heavily on its environment role at the expense of its rural affairs remit.

Michael Jack MP, the Efra committee chairman noted that the recent cabinet reshuffle should provide an opportunity for Defra to “raise its game on rural affairs”. He was forthright in his recommendations, saying: “With climate change gone from Hilary Benn’s in-tray, his department must spend more time banging heads together across Whitehall really to make thorough ‘rural-proofing’ of Government policy a reality.”

Simon Hart, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, told Shooting Times that the report’s conclusion that rural communities felt marginalised by the Government would not comes as a surprise to anyone in the countryside, however he noted “What will raise an eyebrow or two is the suggestion that Defra could be the answer to the problem, rather than the problem itself. Defra has in fact achieved something quite remarkable. It is held in lower regard than MAFF which had previously set the benchmark.

“Defra has developed a culture of insulating itself from the rural people it is meant to serve. That is why Defra, and the Government more widely, have come to be seen as the problem rather than the solution on many rural issues. The breadth of issues contained within the Defra portfolio have not helped, but more damaging has been the attitude that the concerns of those who live and work in the countryside are secondary to those who want to use it. This culture is despite the efforts of some good ministers, Lord Rooker and Huw Irranca-Davies to name but two, who recognise that a balance needs to be struck between those who live in the countryside and those who use or visit it. One need look no further than the current attempt to force a ‘coastal access corridor’ on farmers rather than agree the sort of coastal path network that the public desire.

“In the longer term the question has to be not whether Defra can ‘raise its game’ but whether it can play the game at all.”

By Alastair Balmain

Tuesday, 11 November 2008

Calls for reintroduction of big cats to help control Scotland's deer numbers

Following reintroductions of sea eagles and the planned release of beavers next year, one leading conservationist has called for the reintroduction of the lynx into Scotland’s forests as a measure to control the deer population.

The question of whether the lynx should roam free once more was raised earlier this month at a major three-day conference on species and wildlife management, organised by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). In a speech to delegates at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Roy Dennis, director of the Highland Foundation for Wildlife, asked: “So when can the lynx come home? We know there’s loads of room. There’s lots of food. There’s lots of space for a big, viable population to return.”

The suggestion was met with some scepticism. Colin Galbraith, director of policy at Scottish Natural Heritage, told The Scotsman newspaper that the call may be a bit premature: “I think lynx is over the horizon. The people of Scotland have to get used to one mammal reintroduction, with the beaver. Let’s see how they do first.” While he did not rule out the possibility of lynx reintroductions, Prof Galbraith urged a cautious approach, saying “Let’s not delay things forever but let’s do things to minimise the risk in light of the evidence we have got.”

The proposal has the backing of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, who point to estimates that just one of the big cats could kill between 50 and 60 deer per year, helping to address concerns of overpopulation, particularly of roe deer. Like the wolf, the lynx is listed on Annex IV of the European Union’s Habitats and Species Directive, to which the UK Government is a party. The directive makes it a legal obligation for member European states to study the desirability of reintroducing certain threatened species on the basis that they form part of the natural heritage of the EU and the threats to them are often of a nature that crosses international borders.

Reintroduction of the lynx for whatever purpose, would inevitably be surrounded by controversy given the potential conflict with existing rural interests, notably farming. Five weeks ago, Roy Dennis addressed this conflict sharply, when he was quoted in a newspaper article on the subject saying, “I used to think that species could be reintroduced in a progressive way, but at the moment there seems to be a backlash because of arguments between the country and the conservation bodies.”

One man who arguably forms a part of the backlash against reintroductions is the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association chairman Alex Hogg. He is adamant that calls for the reintroductions of apex predators such as the lynx are a sideshow given the failure to address the dire situation affecting some of Scotland’s existing wildlife. In response to Roy Dennis’s call, he told www.shootingtimes.co.uk: “We should concentrate on looking after the wildlife we have rather than pandering to the egos of individual conservationists. The efforts to rescue the capercaillie, for instance, have proved to be worse than useless. Let’s get schemes like that right before we talk about introducing other species and adding even more pressures on farming and game management.”

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