The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust has called for £1.2 billion of funding per year to restore nature.

Reacting to the government’s new Environmental Improvement Plan, published on Tuesday, January 31, the trust claimed there would need to be a drastic increase in funding to meet the government’s target of protecting 30 per cent of land and sea for nature by 2030.

The trust’s CEO, Gary Mantle, said: “Progress towards this target is painfully slow because Government funding for biodiversity is more than 10 per cent lower than it was a decade ago, yet we know that £1.2 billion extra each year is needed to restore nature.

“The Government must find new cash to do this, not just recycle existing funding pots under new names.”

The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is now joining other wildlife trusts across the country in expressing their concern that there is no plan to reach these goals.

Just 3.2 per cent of the UK’s land is currently protected with only seven years left for the government to meet their commitment.

Despite the concerns of environmental groups, the new plan claims government will boost wildlife and provide greater access to green spaces by creating national nature reserves.