{"id":250313,"date":"2025-11-08T00:41:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T00:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/250313\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T00:41:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T00:41:13","slug":"conservation-boss-says-hs2-bat-tunnel-shows-shift-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/250313\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservation boss says HS2 bat tunnel shows shift needed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The chairman of the Government\u2019s nature agency pointed to the Bucks HS2 \u201cbat tunnel\u201d which has become a symbol of the nature and growth conflict after it was revealed by the developers of the high-speed rail link have drawn up plans for a \u00a3100 million ‘shed’ to protect bats in an ancient woodland.\n<\/p>\n

\n Speaking to PA News Agency, Mr Juniper said people might \u201creflect\u201d on the bat tunnel and question whether there would have been greater potential in making an investment in large-scale habitat recovery for Bechstein\u2019s bat in Buckinghamshire, rather than focusing on one interpretation of the law to reduce impact on individual bats.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cCould we do better, and the answer for us is that in many cases, yes we can,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE: New cameras at Bucks village Tesco to fine \u00a385 for parking over an hour<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n His comments come as Natural England unveils a new strategy that shifts focus from site-by-site and species-by-species interventions towards nature recovery at scale across whole landscapes and seascapes, streamlining regulation and driving investment from public and private sources.\n<\/p>\n

\n The government agency aims to work with partners to ensure economic growth can go alongside rebuilding nature, focusing on outcomes including restoring wider systems such as rivers, wetlands and forests and embedding wildlife and access to green spaces into development.\n<\/p>\n

\n It will also focus on delivering a secure future for the country, by supporting nature-friendly food production, water, clean air and resilience to climate change, Natural England said.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Juniper said that while Natural England and its predecessors had delivered \u201cpositive\u201d outcomes in terms of protecting areas and species, delivering agri-environment schemes and working through the planning system, \u201cunfortunately in 2025 we see nature declining in many respects\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe see that the job now is no longer about conservation, but is now very much about recovery, because the simple truth is that we don\u2019t have enough nature to achieve all the things that the country needs,\u201d he told PA.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis is really about not only seeing nature as a collection of interesting habitats and wonderful species, but also to see nature as critical national infrastructure,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

\n Helping nature\u2019s recovery would achieve wider goals for society in terms of economic development, health and wellbeing, food and water security and the country\u2019s ability to be resilient in the face of climate change impacts, he said.\n<\/p>\n

\n He added there was a need to move away from bureaucracy towards securing outcomes for nature, working with a \u201clight touch\u201d with partners from farmers to major charities such as the National Trust and government agencies.\n<\/p>\n

\n It is the latest intervention in an increasingly polarised debate, with ministers blaming bats, newts and spiders for blocking development of infrastructure and housing.\n<\/p>\n

\n And conservationists have warned changes to the planning system would threaten protected species and make it impossible to meet legal targets to improve the environment.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE: CCTV released amid probe after vehicle arson at Bucks dairy<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Juniper, who has worked in the conservation sector since the 1980s, said there long been a view of a \u201cchoice\u201d between protecting nature on one side and securing growth and development on the other, a debate which always became more pronounced in times of economic difficulties such as now.\n<\/p>\n

\n But he said: \u201cIt\u2019s a question of not either\/or, but and\/and.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cNature is important to protect because it is vital to protect it for its own sake, and because it\u2019s beautiful, and because it brings a spiritual dimension to our lives, and because it is economically essential and vital for public health,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n

\n He said Natural England had already been working in ways that delivered for both nature and economic development, pointing to the Thames basin heaths, where the agency had worked with developers to deliver housing and help the recovery of lowland heaths and endangered birds in south and west London.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe have discovered some really exciting opportunities, if only we can get beyond looking at the position of a newt-by-newt or bat-by-bat context, and moving into a larger landscape view, whereby we can take account of a bigger landscape as we look at the plight of individual endangered species and habitats.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The chairman of the Government\u2019s nature agency pointed to the Bucks HS2 \u201cbat tunnel\u201d which has become a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-250313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-unitedkingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}