Alarm at prospect of Defra cutbacks

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Senior officials are thought to be considering the savings to help balance the books after recent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth and bluetongue disease. The farm payments fiasco and the summer's catastrophic floods are also believed to have contributed to the need to scale back spending.

Ministers are to be presented with cuts of between £130 million and £270 million, which could hit a wide range of Defra responsibilities such as recycling, nature protection and reducing energy use.

The Environment Agency and British Waterways are among the associated organisations expected to be affected.

The savings are on top of Whitehall-wide annual administrative cuts of 5% - towards which Defra was already drawing up detailed plans.

Tom Oliver, head of rural policy at the Campaign to Protect Rural England, expressed concern that cuts were even being considered.

"Even if this is only an idea circulating around Whitehall, it shows how very desperate the position of the environment is within the Government's priorities," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"It is very difficult to see, given the pressure on resources on environmental aims anyway, for a whole range of things the Government is committed to, how it can cope with yet more cuts.

"And I think that it suggests across the board, if you are talking about wildlife, or access to the countryside, or action on climate change, there is a real lack of credibility about the Government's priorities if these cuts are being suggested."

A Defra spokesman said: "No final decisions have yet been reached. Protecting and enhancing the environment remains an absolutely key priority for Defra."