To all Essex Riders - this is your chance to make a difference. If we don't all lobby for change, that change will not happen, so PLEASE take the time to write to your MP! Thank you!
AGRICULTURE BILL
URGENT MOMENT TO LOBBY YOUR MP!
Find yours here and ask them to write to the Rt Hon Theresa Villiers
Example letter:
To your MP
Dear xxxx
I note that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs the Rt Hon Theresa Villiers did not mention public access to the countryside and nature once in her speech to the recent Oxford Farming Conference (please see below for the link to the speech).
Please will you write urgently to the Secretary of State and ask her to reassure the millions of people currently denied access to the countryside, including 3.1 million horse riders and 0.5 million carriage drivers (many of whom are elderly and disabled) that public goods includes public access for all user groups and that public access will continue to be included in the forthcoming Agriculture Bill.
The new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme must be the golden bridge between landowners and the public - delivering at last a joined up network of paths and green infrastructure accessible to ALL user groups, delivering on rights of way improvement plans, on public health and economic benefit, through green non-polluting active travel, recreation and engagement with nature.
The Government has pledged in ‘A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment’
to “open up the mental and physical health benefits of the natural world to people from the widest possible range of ages and backgrounds”.
The Government has also pledged to “take into account the often hidden additional benefits in every aspect of the environment for national wellbeing, health and economic prosperity, with scientific and economic evidence to the fore”.
Please don’t let us down on this commitment.
Yours sincerely