Background
Our natural environment underpins our economic prosperity, our health and our wellbeing. As a result, protecting the environment and enhancing biodiversity is one of Defra’s top three priorities, as outlined in the Department’s Business Plan.
A key commitment under this priority was the publication of a White Paper on the natural environment. On 26 July 2010 we published our discussion paper “An invitation to shape the Nature of England”. We invited all comments and submissions from anyone with an interest in the Natural Environment White Paper.
- Discussion document summary (PDF 100KB)
- Discussion document “An invitation to shape the Nature of England”
The consultation closed on 30 October 2010, with over 15,000 responses. This was an exceptional level of response and we are extremely grateful to all those who took the time to share their views and ideas with us.
We analysed all the submissions and produced factual summaries of the responses, setting out the key themes from both the discussion document consultation and the short on-line survey. These can be found below:
- Executive summary of responses to the discussion document (PDF 40KB)
- Summary of responses to the discussion document (PDF 300 KB)
- Executive summary of responses to the short online survey (PDF 55 KB)
- Summary of responses to the short online survey (PDF 2.6 MB)
We also held a series of stakeholder workshops over the autumn, which generated a large number of ideas for the White Paper. An overview of the outputs from these workshops is available:
- Stakeholder workshops overview (PDF 40 KB)
All these responses were fed into the development of the Natural Environment White Paper.
Grass roots engagement
We wanted to ensure that all interested parties had a say in shaping the development of the White Paper. To do this, we invited small local groups, or organisations with grassroots memberships, to send us their thoughts. In November 2010, we published some resources to help facilitate discussions in order to generate ideas. A cross-section of organisations and groups replied, representing a range of backgrounds and experiences. We would like to thank all those that took the time to reply and for the experiences and ideas that were shared with us.
Panel of environmental experts
Richard Benyon established a panel of environmental experts to advise him on the development of the White Paper.