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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the loss of biodiversity in the Romford area in the last five years.

No assessment of biodiversity loss, specific to the Romford area, has been made.

Assessments of biodiversity are published at the national level, with the latest England Biodiversity Indicators being published in October 2021. These highlighted some positive signs for our environment and wildlife, including a number of successes in the recovery of species which can be found in the southeast, such as our native bats and birds like the bittern. However, there remain huge ongoing pressures on the country’s biodiversity and many of our native species are in decline, with abundance of some of the UK’s most threatened species having fallen by 61% since 1970, which is why we must continue to act to restore and enhance nature.

Towards this ambition, the Environment Act will set a new legally binding target to halt the decline of species abundance by 2030, as well as introducing Local Nature Recovery Strategies. Natural England is working with partners in the London Borough of Havering (which includes Romford) to improve wildlife through the five Land Management schemes, improving management of the three Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and advising protected sites and advising the local authority on how planning decisions can conserve and improve wildlife.