Countryside Alliance calls for wildlife law reform with Carlton Club speech

Countryside Alliance Chief Executive, Tim Bonner, has called for a bold and radical approach to wildlife law during a speech to one of London's foremost private members clubs on Tuesday 11 September.

The Alliance was asked to prepare and present a policy paper as part of the 'Carlton Policy Challenge' which has seen a number of organisations address the Club, which was originally founded as the home of the Conservative Party.

The Alliance paper, titled "Where next for Nature?", set out the opportunity for a new approach created by leaving the EU and changes in wildlife populations, and called for a new law based on a consistent set of principles, including a presumption in favour of management

The speech reflected many of the ideas from a collection of essays commissioned by the Countryside Alliance to initiate a public discussion on the future of wildlife law.

Tim Bonner commented: "Our wildlife laws need updating and leaving the EU is an opportunity for us to shape a new legal framework for the UK which is more appropriate to the wildlife and habitats of this country and the people who call it home.

"We should be bold and radical in our approach and consider introducing a new piece of legislation to repeal the current raft of confusing and sometimes contradictory laws and establish consistent principles in this area based on the English common law approach of presumed right as opposed to the European civil law approach of presumed wrong.

"The Countryside Alliance has never been afraid of a challenge and I was delighted to present our paper on wildlife law to the Carlton Club, which we hope will stimulate debate in this important area."