Speeches by Hinchliff.

“That, presumably, would be a recommendation you would like to see this Committee make?”

“Can I just interrupt briefly. Would you like to see it explicitly laid out rather than just implied?”

“Thank you. Following on neatly from that, in a previous session of this inquiry Dr Hugh Ellis from the TCPA told us that the previous NPPF framework was not fit for purpose on nature and the environment and urged us to encourage the Government to go back to the beginning and give a proper definition of sustainable deve…”

“I want to push a bit further on a couple of points. Mr Trew and Mr Smyth, I think there is a unanimous agreement about the urgent need to tackle homelessness and affordability crisis for housing. We have heard from both of you about the urgent need to build. Given the pressures that 1.5 million houses could potentially…”

“In recent years, my constituency of North East Hertfordshire has experienced a lot of building that is palpably unsustainable. Given the changes within the NPPF towards a stronger-tilted balance in favour of the presumption of sustainable development, do you believe that these changes to the NPPF will lead to better or…”

“Okay, thank you. Mr Lockhart, I want to turn back to the Nature Restoration Fund. How would you respond to the concern that the fund is allowing developers to give money now, to cause pollution now, to habitats that are already damaged and are at the risk of functional death in some cases, in the hope that this money w…”

“Okay, thank you. Mr Lockhart, I want to turn back to the Nature Restoration Fund. How would you respond to the concern that the fund is allowing developers to give money now, to cause pollution now, to habitats that are already damaged and are at the risk of functional death in some cases, in the hope that this money w…”

“We heard earlier about the importance of oceans as commons and that what happens elsewhere matters profoundly to us. My questions are about what more we can do to conserve the marine environment beyond our own jurisdiction. Could you set out to what extent the UK’s own initiatives that go beyond its treaty obligations …”

“To follow up on that point, to what extent would you say that leadership shown by the UK, or potential leadership shown by the UK, in going beyond our treaty obligations helps encourage other nations in the implementation of the treaties that they are signed up to?”

“We heard earlier about the importance of oceans as commons and that what happens elsewhere matters profoundly to us. My questions are about what more we can do to conserve the marine environment beyond our own jurisdiction. Could you set out to what extent the UK’s own initiatives that go beyond its treaty obligations …”

“To follow up on that point, to what extent would you say that leadership shown by the UK, or potential leadership shown by the UK, in going beyond our treaty obligations helps encourage other nations in the implementation of the treaties that they are signed up to?”

“To clarify, I suppose my question is whether you are confident that we are heading in the right direction with the number of offsite agreements coming into that scheme to allow developers to buy the offsite credits that they need. I appreciate that it is difficult to predict, but do you feel like we are roughly headed …”

“Has your Department made an assessment of the number of sites and the area in hectares of units on the Natural England register that would be required to facilitate the delivery of the Government’s 1.5 million homes objective over the next five years?”

“You have turned the tables on me.”

“I have some initial statistical questions for you. In May 2024, your predecessor told us that a register of biodiversity net gain sites had been established by Natural England to facilitate the purchase of offsite biodiversity net gain credits by developers. Could you tell us how many sites are now on the offsite agree…”

“You have again touched on the point about the importance of liaising with other Administrations. Can you tell us a little more about how you are working with the devolved Administrations on plans to deliver 30 by 30, both on land and at sea?”

“You touched on lots of things that relate to my follow-up question. On the point you made around 30 by 30 at sea, I was going to ask why only for land and not for sea? Is your position that, with the marine protected areas that we already have, we are already above 30 by 30 at sea, and it is a matter of ensuring that t…”

“Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 18 December.”

“May I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks? In 2021, Ceri and Frances Menai-Davis, who live in my constituency of North East Hertfordshire and are in the Gallery today, tragically lost their son, Hugh, at the age of just six to a rare form of cancer. Now they are courageously campaigning to ensure that ev…”

“Do you accept that there is an incongruence between accepting that, previous to the expansion of scope that you have mentioned, the potential inheritance tax liability was potentially disincentivising farmers from investing in the nature recovery schemes that we want them to pursue, and the fact that the decisions in t…”