THE natural environment is a perennial topic in my postbag and one about which Salisbury constituents are particularly passionate – and rightly so.

I am pleased to know that many of you have already responded to the ongoing consultation about our environmental standards post-Brexit.

The European Union has in many ways been a force for good environmentally, so I am pleased that the Government has no intention of weakening the environmental protections enshrined in EU law.

However, outside the EU, we will also have the opportunity to develop even better gold standard environmental policies, taking smarter, more targeted and locally relevant approaches to some of the improvements we want to see.

The Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, has called for a big conversation about future regulation and enforcement of environmental standards. This will, in turn, feed into the 25-year Plan to Improve the Environment, which sets out to ensure we will be the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than we inherited it.

A great many constituents are particularly interested in the role of farmers, both in upholding the quality of the food chain and as stewards of the countryside they farm.

Last Friday, I visited Cholderton Estate and walked the fields with Henry Edmunds, a 20 year veteran of organic farming.

The visit was actually organised by the Salisbury headquartered botanical charity Plantlife, for the purpose of seeing the Pheasant’s Eye - the flower for which they have recruited me as species champion - growing wild in the constituency.

The fact that the visit was also an eye-opening exploration of the effect of not using nitrates in farming and the implications for both yield and wildlife is a testament to the direct link between responsible farming and biodiversity.

I do hope we can find sensible ways to re-set our relationship with the natural environment following the debate that Mr Gove has called for, beginning with coming to terms with the massive implications of our addiction to cheap food.

Once again, my condolences to the friends and family of Dawn Sturgess. I am glad to know that her funeral was a fitting commemoration of the kind and gentle person that she was and reflected what she meant to those who loved her.