David Chadwick Backs Landmark Bill to Protect Mid Wales Countryside

Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe has announced he will vote in favour of a new landmark bill being proposed next week that would ‘revolutionise the protection of the Welsh Countryside’.

The Climate and Nature (CAN) Bill is being proposed to Parliament by fellow Liberal Democrat MP Roz Savage who holds four World Records for ocean rowing, including being the first woman to row solo across three oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian.

The Bill proposes to update the UK’s climate and environmental legislation including reversing nature loss by 2030.

Mid Wales and Wales as a whole has suffered a dramatic loss in nature and biodiversity in recent decades, with the State of Nature Wales Report in 2023 18% (one in six) of species in Wales are at risk of extinction, including plants and animals such as Fen Orchid, Water Vole and Sand Lizard.

The report also showed that the abundance of land and freshwater species has on average fallen by 20% across Wales since 1994. Of almost 3,900 species assessed, more than 2% are already extinct in Wales.

The latest assessment showed that 27% of bird species in Wales were now red-listed, meaning they are in the most urgent need of help, compared with 12% in 2002.

Continued pressures on wildlife mean that Wales is now one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth.

The Bill has attracted the support of major figures such as Chris Packham, Deborah Meaden and major groups like Friends of the Earth and The Wildlife Trust.

The Bill has also been backed by Welsh Liberal Democrat for Mid & West Wales Jane Dodds.

It is not yet clear whether the UK Labour Government or the Conservatives will back the legislation, although many individual MPs have done so.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe David Chadwick said:

“I know local wildlife is so precious for so many people across Mid Wales and Wales as a whole. Yet in recent decades nature and biodiversity in Wales have seen an unacceptable decline.

“Many older residents often tell me how things have changed for the worse when they think of their childhood and the types of species they used to encounter regularly.

“This landmark Bill being proposed by my Liberal Democrat colleague Roz Savage is a golden opportunity to reverse the decline in nature we have seen across the Welsh countryside and I will be voting in favour of it next week.

“We must protect the wonderful Welsh countryside for future generations to enjoy and I hope that the Labour Government will work with us to back this legislation.”

ENDS