Natural England to get 47% funding increase amid ‘green recovery’ plans

Conservation watchdog given boost after decade of funding cuts that left it at crisis point'

Natural England, the government's conservation watchdog, is to receive a 47% increase in government funding this year as its role expands to support a green recovery" and provide environmental scrutiny of the government's controversial Project Speed".

The dramatic funding increase is a boost for wildlife protection and monitoring after a decade of deep cuts which left the agency at crisis point" and its chairman, Tony Juniper, admitting that it would struggle to reverse declines in biodiversity.