Sir –

I write to
protest most strongly at the tone and content of a letter published in the Mid
Sussex Times on the 22

^nd


December by the Chief Executives of a number of Wildlife Trusts and other
organisations, relating to the countryside and the Coalition Government’s
Autumn Budget Statement.

This letter
gives a thoroughly misleading impression since it implies that some of our most
important natural capital is to be consigned to destruction through the
Government’s polices to invigorate growth in our economy.

Nothing
could be further from the truth. 

George
Osborne is the first Chancellor to promote the valuing of natural capital as
part of our national accounting system.  This means putting nature at the
heart of Government in all the decisions we take and recognising that the
services we get from the natural environment (e.g. clean water, food, and
carbon sequestration) are all vital to our economic prosperity.  George
Osborne has invested £3bn in a new Green Investment Bank which will support
green growth across the country. He is also financing the biggest
retro-fit home insulation project, the Green Deal, ever carried out by any
Government. This Government has put sustainability at the heart of its policy
making.  This is a seismic change in our approach to development because
it will ensure that new developments will have to take account of their impact
on our environment as well as the social and economic benefits they may bring.

I am a
supporter of the work of the wildlife Trusts in what they do to support some of
our most precious landscapes and natural habitats, but I will not stand by and
allow these organisations to tarnish their reputation by promoting absurd
arguments in opposition to what they perceive to be Government Policy.

This
Government is led by people who have lived in and who love the
countryside.  There is simply no way they, or I as your MP, would allow
any change in the law that would have the impact being claimed by this
campaign. 

Yours
sincerely,

Nicholas
Soames MP