Save the planet? SNP funds public sector pay rises instead Millions set aside for conservation projects raided by SNP ministers Click here to visit the Scotland home page for the latest news and sport By Claire Elliot For The Scottish Daily Mail Published: 22:53, 25 August 2024 | Updated: 23:12, 25 August 2024 e-mail 1 View comments Millions of pounds set aside for vital conservation projects are being raided by SNP ministers to fund council pay deals. But the Scottish Government has been warned the move to ‘plug gaps made by their own economic incompetence’ by depleting vital finances to tackle nature emergency is a short-sighted move. The Holyrood administration confirmed yesterday that £5million of its Nature Restoration Fund earmarked to tackle climate change has been ‘redirected’ so local authorities can meet a revised pay offer made by Cosla.
A proposed increase of 3.6 per cent was enough to avert eight days of strike action by refuse workers and other local authority workers last month. But critics have urged ministers to reconsider raiding nature resources to pay for it, claiming it will be ‘damaging’ for a variety of ‘at-risk’ species and the consequences will be felt now and into the future.
Tory MSP Rachael Hamilton described the move as 'alarming' Scottish Conservative shadow rural affairs secretary Rachael Hamilton said: ‘Scotland has so many species which are at risk of habitat destruction. So it’s alarming that the SNP would de-fund biodiversity conservation to plug other holes they have created in their own spending. ‘Councils and NatureScot will be left with nothing to spend on preserving our beautiful natural environment for future generations.
‘I urge ministers to reconsider the damage this will cause to at-risk species and properly fund councils for any deals they have struck elsewhere.’ She added: ‘Nature should not be a trivial consideration for the SNP, as this would suggest.’ Only last year the Scottish Government said restoring biodiversity was ‘crucial’ in efforts to tackle climate change.
Former biodiversity minister Lorna Slater previously said: ‘To reverse the biodiversity crisis, we will need high level strategic leadership, alongside responsible public and private investment to achieve our outcomes’. But the latest decision by ministers has been branded ‘short-sighted’ in the midst of a ‘nature emergency’, with one in nine species in Scotland believed to be threatened with extinction. Anne McCall, Director of RSPB Scotland, described the move as ‘desperately bad news’.
She said: ‘Recently published analysis has shown that funding for nature needs to increase, not be cut. Scotland is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world, coming 28th from the bottom of 240, and this is trend continuing to decline. ‘The Nature Restoration Fund has been critical in helping to deliver projects right across rural and urban Scotland, generating employment and bringing benefits to people, economy, biodiversity and nature, and it was at the beginning of addressing this shocking statistic.
‘The short and long-term consequences of this action will be keenly felt both now and into the future.’ She added that repeated surveys have shown that the Scottish public want nature restoration to be given ‘more prominence in Government decision-making’. Anne McCall of RSP Scotland has criticised the latest decision The Nature Restoration Fund, which is shared between NatureScot and local authorities, helps support a variety of biodiversity and conservation projects including tree planting, building natural flood defences and restoring waterways.
David Balharry, chief executive of the John Muir Trust conservation charity, believed defunding nature restoration in Scotland would be a ‘retrograde step, interrupting our ability to protect wild places and quickly worsening the erosion of these vital and already fragile habitats’. He said: ‘Loss of biodiversity and the climate crisis are two sides of the same coin. Protecting wild places and biodiversity provides public benefit by preventing flooding, keeping our air and water clean, and helping to achieve our carbon targets.
‘We urge the Scottish Government to consider alternative funding measures that can provide public benefit without putting further pressure on public finances.’ Scottish Greens environment spokesman Mark Ruskell also said investing in local services and the local environment ‘should not be in opposition’. He added: ‘Every worker deserves to be paid a fair wage, and every one of us should have access to green space and a liveable and sustainable community.
‘It would be short-sighted and counterproductive to cut one at the expense of the other.’ Click here to visit the Scotland home page for the latest news and sport Advertisement Scottish Labour Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Just Transition Sarah Boyack also criticised the move, saying: ‘Not content with missing climate target after target , the SNP government now wants to raid the nature budget to plug gaps made by their own economic incompetence. ‘It is clearer with every passing day that this government is bad for our economy, bad for working people and bad for our planet.
’ Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton added: ‘No matter how much they try to spin it, SNP ministers are taking these harmful decisions because they have made a habit of making costly blunders. ‘Chopping the budget in the middle of a nature emergency is another short-sighted move that will hold Scotland back. ‘We need to save nature and the green spaces that we all treasure.
It means planting more trees and stopping sewage dumping in our rivers.’ The Scottish Government defended its decision to re-direct the nature funding, saying it was ‘taking on significant additional financial pressure to fund the local government pay offer, and the Finance Secretary has been clear that painful choices have had to be made’. A spokesman added: ‘While capital funding of £5 million from this year’s Nature Restoration Fund has been redirected to fund the pay offer, it will be replaced in future years.
‘We know the vital role local government employees play in delivering local services which are valued by the public. This pay offer demonstrates just how much we value these workers too.’ SNP Share or comment on this article: Save the planet? SNP funds public sector pay rises instead e-mail Add comment.
