We Need Wirral’s Farm Land to be Producing Food

Wirral has large amounts of grade A farm land that we need to be as productive as possible if the UK is to grow enough high-quality food to meet most of the country’s needs. But, because Leverhulme Estates want to build on sites such as Chester Road Fields in Heswall, they are not using the fields to grow the crops this excellent farm land could produce. They think that they are more likely to get planning permission to build houses as the land is now classed as ‘managed grassland’ rather than grade A farmland. Preserving our Green Belt means protecting top quality land to produce the food we need.

The UK’s independent climate advisers (Climate Change Committee) have issued a stark warning about the threats facing British farming and the food available to UK citizens. The extreme heat and lack of rain this year will cause crop failures and the situation is even worse in countries such as Spain from whom we import. Lib Dems are pushing the government to keep our best farmland for food production, support farmers as they adapt to the ‘new normal’ while committing to do everything we can, at home and internationally, to slow the rate of destructive climate change.