Campaigners are urging the UK Government to strengthen legislation on community ownership, warning that the current proposals working their way through Westminster fall short of what is needed to empower local people to protect and restore England’s natural landscapes.

Provisions for a new Community Right to Buy, part of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, currently before Parliament, have been welcomed as a step forward. Yet environmental groups, including Wild Moors, say the powers as drafted risk excluding many of the nation’s most ecologically valuable assets, such as peat bogs, woodlands and rivers, from community ownership.

The Minister for Devolution, Miatta Fahnbulleh MP, is facing growing calls to amend the legislation to ensure environmental criteria are included alongside social and economic considerations.

The case for reform was set out in the Unleashing Community Ownership report, commissioned by Labour MP Lisa Nandy, which recommended that the definition of an Asset of Community Value be expanded to include those with environmental benefits. While the Government’s Bill does broaden the criteria to include economic factors, it stops short of recognising environmental value – an omission that critics say undermines the potential of the policy.

Supporters point to the example of Langholm, in the Scottish Borders, where the local community successfully purchased 10,500 acres of upland in the Tarras Valley. There, community-led initiatives have begun restoring peatlands, reviving native woodlands and improving biodiversity, while supporting local employment through conservation grazing and sustainable land management.

Advocates believe similar opportunities could be realised in England’s uplands if the legislation were strengthened. Community ownership, they argue, not only secures local stewardship of land, but also delivers vital ecosystem services, such as carbon storage, natural flood management, and improved air and water quality.

An amendment to the English Devolution Bill by the Minister at Report Stage to encompass environmental assets could place community ownership at the heart of sustainable land management, supporting both people and the planet.