Further to the letter from Stephen Ward (23 June), who wrote in response to your report (‘National nature service’ needed for green recovery in England, groups say 23 June),, in the 1970s I worked as a secretary based in Sussex in the south-east regional office of the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC).
The NCC – responsible for establishing, monitoring and preserving national nature reserves and sites of special scientific interest (SSSI) – was staffed by some the country’s foremost conservationists. Regional officers had responsibilities for the reserves in their patch and their work included field surveys as well as reserve management. My work, always interesting, included typing up the records of many species of birds, butterflies and flora, which are sadly rarely seen when walking on the South Downs today.
A further important part of their work was to respond to planning projects, yet now apparently the status of SSSI has little bearing on the outcome of many planning applications. Regional officers worked closely with groups such as the RSPB, the Sussex Ornithological Society and the county conservation trusts – charities that have become the prime carers for our countryside as successive governments downgraded the importance of conservation.
As Ward writes, rather than create a new department, it is surely time for a reinstated and properly funded NCC, staffed by experts who will go out into the field with the remit to monitor, restore and protect our wildlife and their habitats.
Janet Cragg
Ditchling, Sussex
• Regarding Mr Magpie and his wife (Letters, 17 June), we have a magpie nest in a neighbouring garden and, if it is a marriage, it sounds like one long argument.
Richard Gilyead
Saffron Walden, Essex
