Guest election blog – Plaid Cymru by John Bratton

I am an entomologist who held desk jobs in the government conservation agencies in Peterborough and Bangor for 20 years. Most of my time now goes on helping to look after an SSSI in Gwynedd. I have voted in all available elections since 1979, never with whole-hearted support for a party but rather trying to choose the one whose policies would be least damaging to the natural environment. I have only once voted for the winning party in a general election. These are my thoughts on the environmental aspects of the 2024 Plaid Cymru manifesto.

The manifesto has 15 chapters. None of their titles mention environment or biodiversity, so the most promising ones for environmental policies are Climate Change and Energy and Rural Affairs.

Climate Change and Energy starts well: “Plaid Cymru recognises that the climate and nature emergencies are the biggest threat to mankind on a global scale…”. But in the following 30 paragraphs, only three mention wildlife conservation. The majority of the chapter concerns Plaid Cymru’s determination to take control of energy generation and water resources.

Turning to Rural Affairs doesn’t reduce the disappointment. Plaid Cymru will broaden the approach to tackling of bovine TB by controlling the disease in wildlife. Apart from that, nature doesn’t figure in rural affairs. Presumably Plaid is so keen to get the agricultural vote that it won’t say anything that might result in a tut of disapproval from farmers.

What I like in the Plaid Cymru manifesto:

• A determination to improve water quality in Wales.

• No new licences for oil and gas drilling.

• Stronger enforcement of protection for SSSIs “so that the days of companies dumping waste on protected sites are a thing of the past”. This is clearly a reference to the Welsh Labour leader’s association with a criminal convicted of dumping on the Gwent Levels.
  But is it consistent with Plaid’s desire for a third bridge over the Menai Strait which would damage two SSSIs? And do they realise poor habitat management is the bigger issue with SSSIs?

• “A science-led plan … to ensure nature loss is firmly in reverse as soon as possible”. But there is nothing in the rest of the manifesto to suggest how this reverse would come about. It can’t be achieved in isolation from the rest of Welsh life. 

• Opposition to the requirement in the Sustainable Farming Scheme (the new agri-environment scheme) for all participating farms to have at least 10% tree cover. If this policy were to be implemented, it would cause the loss of wildlife-rich rough grazing
  and marshes, these being the farmland habitats a farmer would be most likely to
  sacrifice to tree plantations.

• Controlling TB in wildlife as mentioned above, assuming this means vaccinating the badgers rather than culling anything that might test positive.

• Strengthening the UK’s animal and plant disease surveillance. This is proposed as a crop protection initiative but should protect wildlife too.

• Improving the legislation around dogs harassing livestock. This is a perennial problem on the SSSI where I work.

  Things I don’t like:
• Plaid wants to scrap the Nitrate Vulnerable Zone Regulations, which seems to be at odds with their aspirations for higher water quality.
• They have ambitions to “clear away the coal tips that litter our valleys”.  Perhaps no one has sent them Liam Olds’ report on the conservation value of colliery heaps in South Wales.
  
  

   What is missing:

• Details. There is not enough detail to make the positive proposals convincing.
• Access to green spaces. While most of the party manifestos are promising greater public access to the countryside, Plaid is silent on this issue. It would be useful to know whether the immensely damaging Wales Coastal Path is a model Plaid would want to repeat.
• There is no mention of the marine environment. The words “marine” and “fishing” do not appear in the manifesto, while “sea” is mentioned once, in relation to drownings.
• There is no mention of Natural Resources Wales. Are they happy with the organisation’s performance? Do they recognise its responsibilities for wildlife conservation and its conflicting role in Welsh forestry?

Would I vote for Plaid Cymru on the basis of this manifesto?

No.

This is one of a series of opinion pieces on the political parties’ 2024 general election manifestos. This piece was not originally commissioned by Wild Justice but was submitted by a newsletter subscriber. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Wild Justice.

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