Former CLA president appointed to Natural England board

Cotswolds farmer and former Country Land and Business Association (CLA) president, Mark Tufnell, has been appointed to the board of Natural England.

Mr Tufnell will initially serve for a three-year term until 30 May 2027 and will be able to provide an additional farming voice to the board.

See also: Natural England denies claims of backdated appointments

New appointments to the board will be expected to represent the views of Natural England.

However, in his previous role as CLA president, Mr Tufnell had been openly critical of the work of Natural England, the government’s statutory adviser on nature conservation,

In April 2023, whilst representing the views of CLA members, he called on Defra to launch a review into the remit and track record of Natural England after the CLA raised concerns about its governance of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

At the time, Mr Tufnell said Natural England “does not receive sufficient scrutiny”.

He added: “Natural England’s habit of not checking sites properly, using out of date surveys and its refusal to take into account the needs of the entire landscape has resulted in a near total collapse of confidence among farmers and landowners.”

Other appointments

Alastair Leake, Cynthia Alers, and James Scott were also appointed to the Natural England board earlier this month.

Mr Leake currently heads up the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton Project, looking at the impact on the environment of different farming systems.

Ms Alers and Mr Scott both have backgrounds in housing development while Ms Alers was previously Audit and Risk Committee chair.

Mr Scott is also a member of Natural England’s Development Industry Group and is a group director at developers Urban&Civic.