Hope with roots: why rewilding must be part of Labour's vision for Britain's renewal

Andy Burnham has arrived into power promising huge changes. The seventh British Prime Minister to do so in the past decade. It would be fair to say that there’s a growing scepticism among voters at what these resets can achieve. We too at Rewilding Britain are already asking: where is the much-needed shift to address the climate and biodiversity crises, which are literally staring us in the face this summer, as Britain experiences wildfires and near-drought conditions?

If seized with both hands, resets like these can be critical opportunities in a government’s lifecycle. Andy Burnham and his new Cabinet have a unique opportunity to take stock of what has worked, be honest about what hasn’t, and chart a bold new course to reshape Britain’s future. 

On his first day in post, the PM spoke about rebuilding Britain through a new political and economic model, one that shifts power out of Westminster and into communities across the country. He also talked about giving every place the chance to do more. 

Yes, Andy! For many communities, the past decade has brought rising living costs and stretched public services, alongside polluted rivers, disappearing green spaces, and worsening extreme weather events. Frustratingly, all too often, the government treats these as separate issues. In reality, they are interconnected symptoms of a system that is failing both people and nature. If Labour is to deliver real local renewal, it must tackle these together. Here are five opportunities for Andy Burnham’s government to lead the change.

1. Renewal starts with resilient places 

If the Burnham government is to deliver its plan of national renewal, nature cannot remain an afterthought. It must become part of the infrastructure that rebuilds Britain.

Rewilding is key to this shift. Not only because it’s good for wildlife recovery (which it is — spectacularly good), it directly supports Labour’s core mission: building stronger regional economies, healthier communities, and greater national resilience.

We all know the costs of climate breakdown are already hitting hard. We see it in flooded fields, heatwaves challenging life in our coastal waters and straining the NHS, water shortages hitting land managers, and polluted, drought-stricken rivers.

This must be tackled head on. The answer isn’t a ​‘build-first’ deregulation agenda that relies on concrete and hard engineering. Instead, we need holistic solutions alongside sustainable development. Restoring natural processes – rewiggling rivers, rewetting peatlands, expanding woodlands, and restoring saltmarshes, kelp forests, and planting seagrass meadows – creates vital natural infrastructure. These measures slow floodwaters, cool neighbourhoods, clean water, store carbon, protect coasts, and support food production. Crucially, they do so affordably while creating jobs and boosting community wellbeing.

Investing in rewilding, and the restoring of nature more widely must shift from being seen as an environmental luxury. It is a down payment on Britain’s future resilience. Just ask the Mayor of London, whose rewilding fund has brought beavers back to the capital for the first time in 400 years and is already delivering results far beyond nature recovery. 

2. Green growth in every postcode

The Prime Minister has spoken often about spreading opportunity beyond Westminster and ensuring every part of Britain can thrive. Across Britain, rewilders in our Rewilding Network are showing how to make that vision a reality.

They’re driving forward nature-based businesses, supporting sustainable farming as they rewild land, and they’re rebuilding seascapes too. They’re developing new jobs and eco-tourism potential and creating new volunteering opportunities. Crucially these opportunities are rooted in place – they cannot be outsourced.

A nature-rich economy is not separate from economic growth, but growth shouldn’t just be about boosting a Whitehall (or Manchester) spreadsheet. It must build resilient livelihoods from the natural assets every community already has, their landscapes, waterways, coastlines and people.

If Labour wants genuinely inclusive growth, investing in rewilding must be core to the plan.

3. Devolution means trusting communities

The Prime Minister wants to move power closer to people. Rewilding succeeds by doing exactly that.

Britain’s most inspiring rewilding projects aren’t dreamed up by officials in London. They are led by communities, including farmers, fishers, councils, land managers, charities, businesses and volunteers working towards a shared vision for their place.

Nature recovery works best when local people shape it. We see this happening through collaborative, landscape-scale projects and innovative seascape-scale initiatives along our coastlines. But to scale these up, we need better funding from the Environmental Land Management scheme, Marine Net Gain and high integrity private finance.

As devolution in England expands under the new government, communities must have the power, funding and support to restore the landscapes and coastlines they know best. Local nature recovery should be a core pillar of local democracy – and that means tackling legislative barriers, like the clunky marine licensing system, that hold us back. 

With the new government, actions will speak far louder than words. 

4. Health begins outside the hospital

A healthier Britain cannot be built solely through improved healthcare initiatives and more money to cut waiting lists, however important these may be. Rewilding and restoring access to nature are just as vital – improving mental wellbeing, encouraging physical activity, strengthening social connection and reducing health inequalities. 

The data speaks for itself. The Office for National Statistics estimated that marine and coastal recreation alone delivered £1 billion in 2022. Yet millions of people still lack easy access to thriving natural spaces close to home. 

Every child should have the chance to grow up with wild places nearby. Every family should be able to enjoy clean rivers, flourishing parks and accessible landscapes and a sewage-free ocean, regardless of postcode or income.

Andy Burnham won support as Mayor of Manchester in part because he successfully delivered the Bee Network reshaping and restoring public transport provision for residents across the city. As he seeks to now act on a national scale, delivering those opportunities to get people into wilder nature must be part of everyday future public transport planning

5. Thinking big means acting wild

Britain has ambitious targets on climate, biodiversity and economic renewal. Strategic investment in nature can – and must deliver on all three.

That is why Labour should commit to rewilding 30% of Britain’s land and seas by 2030, not as a symbolic gesture, but as part of its national renewal approach. All too often we’ve seen environmental ambition like 30by30 take slow and meandering tracks to delivery, with the Office of Environmental Protection confirming earlier this year that the UK remains woefully off track to hit its targets.

The Prime Minister has called on the nation to believe again and at Rewilding Britain we share that ambition. But words must be followed with action. The National Estate for Nature plans from England’s major landowners fall dispiritingly short of meaningful landscape scale change, with only the Duchy of Cornwall setting out a vision that captures the level of genuine change in approach and focus needed. We cannot simply kick the can down the road or look to each other hoping someone else steps up with the urgency and action required.

A wilder Britain will not solve every challenge the country faces, but it is one of the few investments that pays dividends for people, nature and the economy simultaneously.

We stand ready to help make that happen.