South Cambridgeshire MP claims nature must be priority for new Prime Minister
Pippa Heylings has put forward a draft law to protect the UK's chalk rivers
South Cambridgeshire MP Pippa Heylings believes the next Prime Minister must put nature at the top of their priorities.
Ms Heylings has put forward a draft Ten Minute Rule Bill which aims to make chalk streams in the UK a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site.
"We are allowing them to be drained dry and to have raw sewage dumped on them by water companies that put people before profit and the planet," she said.
Ms Heylings' Bill is set to be debated by MPs at a second reading in October, but before then, Labour's Andy Burnham is expected to take over as Prime Minister after Sir Keir Starmer announced last month that he would be stepping down.
Nature could help deal with 'climate shocks'
Liberal Democrat MP Heylings hopes a change in leadership can also mean a shift in how the Government sees the importance of nature.
"We have to be able to make sure we can protect our chalk streams and the Government's been voting down attempts of ours to put in those protective measures," she said.
"There are plenty of ways in which nature can help us address the extreme heat and other climate shocks we are facing."
According to The Wildlife Trusts, chalk rivers emerge from the chalk aquifer, where water is rich in minerals and remains at a fairly constant temperature all year-round.
Growth must work with nature - MP
Speaking in Parliament, Ms Heylings has compared the UK's chalk streams to "the Great Barrier Reef.
"And yet we are allowing them to be drained dry and to have raw sewage dumped on them by water companies that put people before profit and the planet."
The proposed legislation brought forward by Ms Heylings passed its first reading earlier this year, but it is unlikely to become law without Government support.
A development corporation for Cambridge to speed up the building of new homes and more jobs was confirmed by the Government last month.
It is something that Ms Heylings wants to complement nature rather than work against it.
"Given we're one of the most nature depleted areas in the country, if we are going to grow and provide the homes that we need, it has to be done together with nature," she added.