39 minutes ago
Malcolm Prior,BBC News, rural affairs correspondent
A coalition of more than 80 nature conservation groups is launching a legal bid to force whichever party is in power next month to improve government targets on tackling wildlife decline in England.
One in six UK species are currently at risk of extinction and a legally-binding target was set by the Conservative government to stop nature loss by 2030.
Organisations including the National Trust, the RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts have also joined forces to urge politicians from all parties to pledge to do more to boost biodiversity.
The main political parties have committed to halt species decline by 2030.
On Friday, Labour launched a new “countryside protection plan” that it says will boost species recovery.
The Conservatives have committed to protecting a minimum of 30% of land and sea for biodiversity by 2030.
The Liberal Democrats say they will double the amount of land protected for nature by 2050.
Wildlife and Countryside Link, a coalition of 83 environmental groups, wants a judicial review of what it claims is a government failure to review and improve existing targets for England, as set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP).
In January, the independent watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), said the government was “largely off track” on meeting its environmental aims, with only four of 40 targets for England likely to be achieved.
Richard Benwell, chief executive of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said it was “time for the culture of non-compliance with environmental law to end”.
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