‘This is not democracy’: Tories accused of selling out to developers

Environmentalist and landowner Isabella Tree says that troubling' relationship with housebuilders calls the party's environmental credentials into question

The prominent role played by a large housebuilding company and Tory donor in last week's Conservative party conference has been called terrifying" by a leading environmentalist who founded one of the most successful rewilding projects in England.

Isabella Tree, co-owner of the Knepp estate in West Sussex and author of Wilding, her 2018 book about how turning loss-making farmland into the largest rewilding experiment in lowland England, said the cosy" relationship between developers such as Thakeham, which in effect sponsored parts of the conference, and the Tory party, was deeply worrying and threatening to green causes.