Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to retain and protect meadowlands habitats in the UK.

Environmental policy is devolved across the four nations of the UK. Defra, the Scottish and Welsh governments and the Northern Ireland Executive share a high-level ambition to improve the environment for the next generation and are committed to work together to foster this ambition.

In England, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations protect rural land in England that is uncultivated or semi-natural from changes in agricultural activities that might cause damage by either increasing productivity or physically changing field boundaries.

Many grasslands are afforded protection as sites of special scientific interest.

The Common Agricultural Policy Greening requirements ask Member States to define grasslands that are ‘environmentally sensitive’ and to protect them from ploughing. We have chosen to define permanent grassland within Natura 2000 areas, the network of European sites designated under the EU Habitats and Wild Birds Directives, as ‘environmentally sensitive’ and they are subject to a ‘no plough rule.’

In England through agri-environment schemes, farmers and land managers can manage and restore species rich grassland as part of 5 or 10 year agreements. We currently have 5,061 hectares being managed under our new Countryside Stewardship scheme and 89,476 hectares under the Environmental Stewardship scheme.