Dear John

Thank you for sending me a copy of your email of 28th November to the Secretary of State for Defra regarding conservation of Shropshire’s birds and the impact of government policies on the work that you and other volunteer organisations do.

I would like to assure you that the Government is pressing ahead with ELMS and is working to fine tune the scheme to make sure measures help deliver the Government’s ambitious outcomes on the environment and support a thriving farming sector.

ELMS will pay for sustainable farming practices, improving animal health and welfare, reducing carbon emissions, creating and preserving habitat, and making landscape-scale environmental changes. This is an important step towards achieving our 25 Year Environment Plan ambitions and our carbon net zero goals. I have discussed with DEFRA Ministers ensuring that thie current review of this scheme should lead to encouraging the benefits for nature.

I know that farmers and land managers will play an essential role in halting the decline in species, including farmland birds and insects, by 2030. I expect the next iteration of ELMS details will be published in due course.

I visited Curlew Country in my constituency earlier this year for an update on the important work they are doing, and shortly before they released some of their chicks into the wild.  I would be very happy to meet you to find out more about the work you are doing here in South Shropshire.  Please contact Jane Gibson in my constituency office on gibsonja@parliament.uk who will be able to find a time that is convenient for us both to do so.

May I take this opportunity to wish you and your family a Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

With kind regards
Philip


  
 
Rt Hon Philip Dunne MP
Member of Parliament for Ludlow
 
* House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA
( +(44) 20 7219 2388; Fax: +(44) 20 7219 0788
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at Constituency office:
 
 54 Broad Street, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 1GP
( +(44) 1584 872 187
Email: philip.dunne.mp@parliament.uk
 
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