The British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) acknowledges that cuts in government departmental spending are necessary to bring public finances back into surplus by 2019/20. What is of concern, however, is that the progress made to date by the landscaping and horticulture industry with Defra and the DCLG could be compromised as a result of the agreed 30 per cent cuts.

BALI and other industry bodies are working in a collaborative manner with government departments through the All Party Parliamentary Gardening and Horticulture Group (APPGHG) on a number of key issues affecting our industry, including the chronic skills shortage, the implementation of the National Living Wage, and local authority contracts. Making savings in genuine back office areas is a positive step, assuming that valuable contacts made by the industry within these departments are not lost. This would mean that we struggle to obtain the level of support and recognition we need from government to ensure that landscaping and horticulture is kept at the top of the green infrastructure agenda.

It is unclear from the Chancellor’s speech where precisely major cuts to spending will be made and how this will affect us. BALI hopes that his mention of focusing on ‘green jobs’ to grow the economy includes not only ‘green technologies’ but also the landscaping and horticulture industry, which does so much to deliver a sustainable and ‘green’ environment.