HDC Policies

• “Provide and maintain quality green spaces in appropriate locations, which are protected for future generations“ - Horsham District Council Green Space Strategy page 24

• “Physical health, mental wellbeing and life satisfaction are all enhanced through access to and use of parks and green spaces.” - Space To Thrive Report 2019

• “Both our built and natural environments are highly valued and will be well managed to keep our District an attractive place to live.” - Horsham District Council Corporate Plan 2019-23 section 1

• “Manage specific green spaces in order to increase biodiversity for current and future generations to enjoy and learn.” - Horsham District Council Green Space Strategy page 55

• “To reverse the decline in species and habitats” - Horsham District Council - About Wilder Horsham District

We want HDC to live by its commitments to protect our facilities, environment and ecology

Wilder Horsham Partnership

Horsham District Council with Sussex Wildlife Trust are in the Wilder Horsham Partnership; two objectives of this project are to:

• Create networks of land that are protected and enhanced for wildlife, to allow habitats to expand and for species populations to increase

• Maximise the opportunities that protecting and enhancing wildlife brings

These principles should be embedded within the Council’s decision making

Expert Views

• “In over 100 local authority areas the provision (of green space) per person will reduce by more than 10% in the next 20 years.” - Green Space Index 2020

• “Without trees, the green lungs of our planet, we’d struggle to breathe” - Trees – the “green lungs” of our planet

• “Local authorities play a vital role in protecting, maintaining and improving local green spaces” -
  Public Health England - Improving Access to Green Spaces

• “Over two-thirds of us want to see our local green spaces enhanced with more plants and wildlife“ - Lockdown Learnings - Campaign for Protection of Rural England

Dasgupta Review

The Dasgupta Review, which was commissioned by HM Government, “The Economics of Biodiversity” is a major report, prefaced by Sir David Attenborough on the state of nature and climate and the effects of humans. The review states:

• “Our unsustainable engagement with Nature is endangering the prosperity of current and future generations.”

• “At the heart of the problem lies deep-rooted, widespread institutional failure.”

• “We need to change how we think, act and measure success.”

• “Change our measures of economic success to guide us on a more sustainable path2.”

It is time to challenge the assumption baked into the day-to-day business models of Horsham District Council that the natural world has no value. The Dasgupta review is a fundamental rebuff to those who feel that there is a choice between sustaining biodiversity or economic growth. Economic growth cannot be sustained without the environment remaining intact.