Pave our streets with pollen, not tarmac, Bee Good tells Environment Minister
Responding to Environment Minister Lord de Mauley’s comments yesterday promoting five simple actions to encourage pollinators into our gardens, as set out by Natural England, Simon Cavill, founder and Chief Executive of leading bee based product company Bee Good says the Minister’s plan is missing a big opportunity.
“I applaud any action to bring back pollinators into our gardens, and I suspect there will be many weekend gardeners all too happy with Lord de Mauley’s recommendation not to cut our lawns so frequently. The fact of the matter is, though, that we are paving over these very lawns too frequently in favour of fashionable patio areas, and opting to tarmac our front gardens to get our second cars off the road. We need a much more focused planning policy in the country that recognises much of the responsibility for a sustainable environment for pollinators lies in the hands of the government. A planning regime for instance that imposes areas of habitat for pollinators as a prerequisite of any planning approval for new builds, and a maximum percentage of any garden that can be developed without formal planning approval would frankly be much more valuable to our environment than rather bland suggestions simply to ‘Grow more pollen rich flowers’, and ‘Think more carefully about using pesticides’ which are two of the five actions.”
Lord de Launey’s statement drew attention to the importance of pollinators to the economy citing an estimated value of £400m due to increased farming yields and fruit and seed quality.
Commenting Lord de Mauley said, “Pollinators such as bees are vital to the environment and the economy and I want to make sure that we do all we can to safeguard them”.
“That being the case,” challenges Simon Cavill, “the Minister needs to look towards his ministerial colleagues as much as towards householders for long term sustainable solutions.”
ENDS
Link to yesterday’s statement:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bees-needs-public-urged-to-support-pollinators