OVER the past six months we have been focusing on producing a new five-year plan for the Wildlife Trust and one of the most interesting debates was about our personality.

We all know we’re here to protect wildlife and inspire people to care about it but we’ve had some fascinating debates about how we should go about this.

Should we be more outspoken?

Should we campaign more? Or should we focus on what we know best? “After all, we’re not Greenpeace” is something I’ve heard more than once.

However, there is a growing feeling that we do need to raise our game.Given the continuing loss of wildlife habitats and threats to our environment it is important that we really make our case for wildlife conservation – stronger, louder and with a new sense of urgency.

The trust has been doing this kind of work for many years, mostly behind the scenes.We’ve worked hard to influence the South East Plan, for example, but it is still promoting the need for massive economic growth on a scale that will make it impossible to deliver environmentallyfriendly policies.

We are being told that at least 144,000 new homes are to be built here in the next 20 years.

Every home will bring at least one car, the need for water, sewerage, waste disposal and energy use. Every home will bring with it people who need to travel for work and leisure.

Every home has an impact on the environment and every individual contributes to our collective ‘ecological footprint’.

South Hampshire is going to particularly hard-hit. This region is required to build another 80,000 homes. The impact on our already threatened coast and water resources will be significant.

The South East Plan is only one threat. The Government has also recently proposed that all decisions on major infrastructure such as airports, ports and power stations are fast tracked through a new Infrastructure Planning Commission to avoid major hold ups with the checks and balances of the normal local planning system.

The creation of ‘eco-towns’ is another concern. Despite their name, they are not eco-friendly and many could have a major negative impact.

So the Wildlife Trust really needs to develop a stronger voice and speak out much more loudly. One of the ways we will be doing this is to invest more funds into policy and campaigning work.We will also be involving our 27,000 members and the public more, in the hope that you can use your own voice to add to ours. I firmly believe that we all need to stand up for our wildlife and our combined voices shouldn’t be ignored.