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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to protect local biodiversity in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

The Government is undertaking extensive work to protect and enhance biodiversity across Lincolnshire, including South Holland and the Deepings.

Farmers are helping to recover nature through Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreements and Higher Level Stewardship agreements across the county and we are supporting Landscape Recovery Projects, including the Greater Frampton, Doddington and Boothby Wildlands schemes, to create joined-up habitats that benefit local wildlife and ecosystems.

Local Planning Authorities are securing Biodiversity Net Gain in the area through development. There are two sites in Lincolnshire (one in South Holland and the Deepings) on the Natural England Biodiversity Net Gain Register, which together have committed 85ha of land to nature recovery. Private sector investment into these sites will create and enhance a mosaic of habitats including species-rich grassland, woodland, scrub and wetland.