Latest news with #RSPB
Wales Online
2 days ago
- General
- Wales Online
Garden planting tip can save you £100 a year but you'll need someone's help
Garden planting tip can save you £100 a year but you'll need someone's help Simple hacks can save hundreds of pounds a year by getting out in their green space You can save hundreds of pounds a year by spending more time in the garden (Image: Getty ) Garden enthusiasts are being urged to check if they can trim their household expenses by making full use of their green space. Simon Akeroyd, an author and gardening expert, has divulged several methods for cultivating your garden that could potentially save you a tidy sum, as part of Raisin UK's Grow Your Savings initiative. One of his practical tips could save you £100 but you'll need a friend's help. He explained: "Love a plant in your friend's garden? Ask for a cutting instead of buying new. Propagating (creating new plants from existing ones) your own plants can build your garden for free, potentially saving £5–£20 per plant across dozens of additions." He referred to RSPB statistics showing that if you can get a 50% success rate with 20 cuttings, resulting in 10 new plants, you could save £100 compared to buying the plants in store. Akeroyd also suggests that growing your own fruit and vegetables can help reduce your grocery bills. Highlighting insights from the gardening blog Something About Plants, he noted that gardeners could save around £83 annually just by growing strawberries and blackberries at home. You can also try growing many other tasty edible plants like lettuce, tomatoes, peas, beetroot, carrots, and rhubarb. You can also make big savings by creating your own compost instead of purchasing it throughout the year. You can use kitchen scraps and garden waste to form a compost heap, or invest in a wormery to transform your waste and cuttings into nutrient-rich compost. Article continues below Composting at home could lead to an annual saving of around £115 due to reduced waste disposal costs and not having to buy compost from stores. The horticultural expert explained: "A 10-litre bag of compost can cost up to £4, but using a 330-litre compost bin at home can produce the equivalent of more than 33 bags a year, all for free, and with the added bonus of reducing household waste. "Many local councils also offer compost bin schemes to help you get started."
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Labour cutting farming budget in England by £100m a year, figures shows
Labour is cutting the farming budget in England by £100m a year, spending review figures show. Despite the decrease, the budget has been cautiously welcomed by nature and farming groups, as there were fears the Treasury had wanted to reduce the funding further. Farmers have felt squeezed by the Labour government's policies over recent months, with mass protests over the introduction of inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1m. Extreme weather and rising input prices have increased financial pressures on the sector, which has meant that a cut to the budget could have serious impacts. Ministers have also indicated that larger farms could be ineligible for the nature-friendly farming fund in future. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs was recently forced to U-turn on a freeze to new applicants for the fund after the National Farmers' Union (NFU) threatened legal action. Previous research by the RSPB has found that a £100m a year cut would lead to 239,000 fewer hectares (590,580 acres) of nature-friendly farmland. Defra said the funding paid to farmers under of environment land management schemes (Elms) would 'skyrocket' from £800m in 2023-24 to £2bn in 2028-29. However, the NFU has called this 'misleading' because after Brexit, farmers were promised that their subsidies would be the same as they were under the EU and were promised a figure of £2.4bn a year. The Elms programme was devised by the conservatives after Brexit: the goal was that rather than being paid per acre, farmers should be paid for improving nature. While the programme was being put in place,the acreage payments known as basic payments schemes (BPS) were kept, and cut each year as Elms increased. BPS is due to be phased out entirely by 2028. Farmers currently get the £2.4bn a year in the two streams as well as a smaller amount of money in grants for things such as robotics trials. Going forward, the government has promised an average of £2.3bn a year up to 2028-29 for the farming budget. By the end of the spending period the budget will shrink to £2.25bn, with £2bn allocated for Elms and the rest paid in productivity grants. Sanjay Dhanda, the NFU's senior economist, has said Defra has been 'misleading' in its claims. He said: 'A key pillar of Defra's budget is the continued investment in Elms, with funding set to rise to £2bn by 2028-29, compared with the £1.8bn earmarked in the Autumn 2024 budget. While the government has framed this as a significant uplift from the £800m spent in 2023-24, this comparison is misleading as Elms was not fully operational at that point, and delinked payments [BPS] absorbed a large share of funding.' However, Defra sources pointed out that although the previous government allocated £2.4bn a year for Elms, the Tories in fact underspent it by about £100m a year. That government had, however, promised that by the end of the spending period, which was cut short by the general election, the full fund was ringfenced and would be allocated to farmers. Tom Bradshaw, the NFU president, said: 'While the Defra secretary of state has listened and managed to maintain the overall funding for farming and nature recovery, from what we can see so far, the £100 million cut to farming means farmers and growers will need to do more with less.' Mark Spencer, a former farming minister who was in charge of issuing the farming budget, said the amount spent on Elms would have been higher than £2bn at the end of the spending period, under the Tories. 'The 2.4bn was meant for Elms. It was always our intention and emphasis to reduce BPS and pour the money into Elms and for the vast majority of it to go to Elms,' he said. Reacting to the cut, Spencer added: 'A part of me is angry, a part of me is just so sad. We made such huge progress and now it is in jeopardy.' Nature groups have credited Steve Reed, the environment secretary, for protecting the majority of the budget. Hilary McGrady, the director general of the National Trust, said the chancellor Rachel Reeves had maintained the budget for nature-friendly farming, adding: 'Steve Reed deserves credit for securing this budget in challenging financial circumstances.' A Defra spokesperson said: 'Contrary to media reports that the farming budget would be slashed by £1.2bn over the next three years, the government is investing a record £5.9bn into nature friendly farming schemes.'
Daily Record
4 days ago
- General
- Daily Record
Dream job on tiny Scottish island with cottage provided in 'rare opportunity'
The island, which is located in the Inner Hebrides, is a nature reserve. A job opportunity on a small Scottish island has come up, with a cottage provided for the lucky applicant. The posting has been described as a "rare opportunity". At the moment, the RSPB is seeking a Warden on the island of Oronsay. Located south of Colonsay in the Inner Hebrides, the entire island is a nature reserve and can be accessed by foot at low tide. The RSPB is looking to hire an "experienced" Warden in a full-time, maternity cover role. The position pays a salary of between £30,075 and £32,108 per annum. The RSPB states that accommodation will be provided in the form of an on-site cottage. According to the job listing, this "may be shared at points throughout the year with RSPB staff and volunteers". In addition to the accommodation, other benefits listed include life insurance and a company pension scheme. The successful applicant will also receive 26 days of annual leave pro rata. The Warden will spend much of their time farming on the tidal island. They will help to manage the reserve's in-house Luing herd and Scottish blackface sheep flock, as well as carry out associated feeding, cultivation, and harvest tasks. Another responsibility of the job will be undertaking most of the machinery and vehicle maintenance. Meanwhile, the Warden will also complete biodiversity monitoring on-site. According to the RSPB, applicants must possess relevant ecological knowledge, communication and interpersonal skills, and experience with reserve or land management. A full manual driving licence that is valid in the UK is also required. Other beneficial attributes include experience with machinery operations and equipment servicing and a record of working in a remote setting or small community. Previous experience working with tractors and rough terrain vehicles is also desirable. When not working, there will be plenty of time to take in Oronsay's spectacular surroundings. The island is also famous for being the home of the ruins of Oronsay Priory, a 14th century monastery dedicated to St Columba. The RSPB job listing states: "A rare and exciting opportunity is available on Oronsay. We are looking for an experienced Warden who is looking to develop their skills in a new setting (especially with livestock) or an experienced Assistant Warden looking to make the next step in their career. "Oronsay is in a stunning location, with awesome biodiversity that comes with unique and varied challenges: remote, isolated, and with a small cohesive team, your approach to life is as important as having the right skills. "The ability to live and work in an extreme island setting, often in extreme weather conditions, is essential. "You and the small team will form almost the entire population of the island; you will therefore need to be outstandingly committed, have understanding of island living, be resilient, mature and responsible, resourceful, adaptable and practically-minded. If this sounds like you, we would really like to hear from you." The job listing will close on Sunday, June 22. Interviews for the position will begin from June 23.
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
Women, infrastructure key focus points for Railway Sports Promotion Board
Indian Railways has been crucial for providing financial security to sportspersons, specially women, and it has been a conscious decision on its part. 'I think it's a combination of being a good fit for women athletes and a conscious decision on our part. The working conditions with Railways is conducive for women which makes it the first choice for most – they get a place of posting closer home, access to facilities and, post active sports, can easily fit into the system. 'But we also consciously look into encouraging and employing women because honestly, the probability of women getting medals is higher. If they are provided with better support and ecosystem, we believe they can achieve big results quicker than men,' RSPB secretary Prem Chand Lochab told Sportstar. Sports like hockey, cricket and basketball among others have an almost monopoly by Railways among women but jobs alone are not sufficient, Lochab admitted, adding there was a massive push to improve sports infrastructure. 'We are creating a state-of-the-art wrestling academy in Kishanganj in Delhi at approximately 35 crores. It will be residential with space for more than 100 men and women trainees and should be operational soon. We have modern facilities in Behala, Kapurthala, Patiala, Rai Bareli, Chennai, there is a new one coming up in Jaipur,' he said. Asked about funding, he explained about the Sports Development Fund. 'It's a unique model among government departments. A certain amount in every project sanctioned will be earmarked for sports development, funds from which are used to constantly improve and enhance our facilities,' Lochab explained. Related Topics RSPB
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Planning bill will ‘push public towards Reform': Labour's Chris Hinchliff on standing up for nature
Keir Starmer's planning bill will 'push the public towards Reform', a Labour MP has said as he urges his colleagues to back amendments to the legislation. Chris Hinchliff, MP for North East Hertfordshire, has submitted a package of amendments to the bill, which as it stands, lets developers 'pay cash to trash nature', he said. These will be debated in parliament during the report stage in early June. One of his amendments, to protect chalk streams, was rejected by the government this week. A growing number of backbenchers are becoming concerned and angry about the bill, with Clive Lewis and Terry Jermy among those supporting amendments to strengthen protections for nature. Labour's plan to build 1.5m homes by 2029 will, it believes, be expedited by passing the planning and infrastructure bill, which is at its committee stage in parliament. The government argues that the proposed legislation will speed up housing developments and large infrastructure projects by allowing developers to avoid meeting environmental obligations to protect habitats and species such as barn owls, otters, bats and newts, at the site of their project. Instead they will pay into a central nature restoration fund (NRF) that will be used to create environmental improvement elsewhere. But there is growing concern about the impacts of these plans, with government officials admitting this nature improvement could be carried out in a different county to where a building project is taking place. Pretty much every nature and environment group in England has objected to the bill as it stands. The National Trust, RSPB, and the Wildlife Trusts have said the proposed legislation puts rare habitats at risk and does not give any kind of baseline on which to measure environmental improvement. Related: Labour's planning bill threatens protected habitats, says environment watchdog Hinchliff told the Guardian that these changes meant Labour would be 'fighting communities, kicking and screaming', adding: 'All that will do is push, push the public towards Reform and that politicians aren't interested in what they think and what matters for their local community.' His amendments include changing environmental delivery plans, so environmental improvement is guaranteed before development begins rather than after it finishes; having targets for socially rented home delivery; and giving people the right to appeal decisions on developments they think are harmful to the local area. Hinchliff's proposals have made him unpopular among some commentators. He has been accused of being part of 'hedgehog Hezbollah' and is constantly called a 'nimby' for suggesting amendments to the bill. But he rebuffed such labels, saying: 'No, I don't think I'm a nimby. There are housing developments in my town just around the corner from me that I think are quite sensible. We've got a town in my constituency that is due to double in size, and I'm not opposing that.' Related: 'Irreplaceable habitat': planning bill raises fears for England's chalk streams Taking on the government like this might make him unpopular, but Hincliff shrugged. 'If it makes me less popular with the government, it makes me less popular with the government,' he said. The bill allows for developers to potentially damage irreplaceable habitats such as chalk streams and pay for them to be offset with nature elsewhere. But nature experts argue that chalk streams cannot be replaced as they are unique and rare ecosystems that only arise under certain conditions. 'There's a lot of chalk streams in my constituency. They're one of the things that residents really care about and love about the constituency that we live in,' Hinchliff said. 'One the reasons why I tabled that amendment is because some habitats are irreplaceable, and it's important that we protect those from damage, because you can't just give developers the right pay cash to trash nature like that.' That amendment was rejected on Wednesday by the Labour MPs on the parliamentary committee examining the draft law. On the same day, the government admitted in its risk assessment of the bill that there was very little evidence that nature protections blocked developments. Removing these protections on this basis was 'dangerous', Hinchliff said. 'Many habitats are on the brink. Species are on the brink. And if we allow harm and pollution to go ahead on the proviso that in the future, will have a pot of money and will make things better those ecosystems will be functionally dead in many instances, if we're not careful.' He added: 'When I read our manifesto, I took away from that very clear message that we were going to deliver the housing that the country needed in tandem with protecting the environment.' Hinchliff has been alarmed by criticism of the bill by the Office for Environmental Protection and Sir Partha Dasgupta, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Cambridge. Hinchliff said some Labour colleagues had come on board with his campaign, and there could be a sizeable group of rebels: 'It's a hugely political issue that matters to an awful lot of people, and I think my colleagues will feel the heat on this. I've been really pleased with the level of support I've received. I've had a good number of colleagues get back to say that they're willing to support my amendments,' he said. Despite potentially being out of step with the party leadership at present, which has said it backs the 'builders' rather than the 'blockers' and prioritises homes over bats and newts, Hinchliff said he was standing up for traditional Labour values. 'What I'm standing up for is a long and proud tradition of Labour values and that people from across the Labour movement have fought for for generations,' he said. 'Let's not forget, it was the Labour government which created the greenbelt, Labour politicians who created our national parks. These are all Labour traditions, and I'm hoping that I can persuade my party to look closely and seriously at the proposals I've put forward.'
