It’s time we shut down Natural England (NE), the puppet quango set up by the Government. Unfocused and unloved, it replaced the Countryside Agency and English Nature. Sadly, it now packs neither the effective rural punch of the former, nor the international scientific reputation of the latter. Run by a log-time employee of the Environment Agency, NE is the very model of a New Labour quango. Starved of resources, it’s required to do the Government’s bidding while preserving the pretence of independence. (more…)