The UK’s gardening, landscaping, arboriculture and environmental horticulture sectors have come together to relaunch the industry group with the aim of championing the sector with government.
The Environmental Horticulture Group (EHG) will officially launch on Wednesday 7th June at a prestigious event in the Cholmondeley Room and Terrace, House of Lords, Westminster. The Parliamentary Reception will be hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Gardening & Horticulture Group, a cross-party group of MPs and Peers who support the environmental horticulture industry.
Baroness Fookes, Chairman, All-Party Parliamentary Gardening and Horticulture Group, will introduce the speakers for the reception including Boyd Douglas-Davies, Chair, Environmental Horticulture Group, Trudy Harrison MP, Minister for Natural Environment and Land Use, Jim Carter, gardener and actor, best known for playing Mr Carson in Downton Abbey, and Alan Titchmarsh, gardener and broadcaster.
The EHG includes garden centres and their supply-chain, public and private gardens, commercial growers and nurseries, arboriculture, and domestic and commercial landscaping. The environmental horticulture industry includes British based multinationals, through to independent, multi-generation family run businesses.
The EHG’s core members are Arboriculture Association (AA), British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI), The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA), and the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)
The EHG was formerly known as the Ornamental Horticulture Roundtable Group (OHRG) and continues the OHRG’s work of championing environmental horticulture – the original green economy industry – and calling on the government to do more to support the sector to help it reach its full potential.
Boyd Douglas-Davies, Chair, Environmental Horticulture Group, said: “I look forward to working closely with government stakeholders to achieve our shared aims in a breadth of policy areas including economic, environmental, science, research, net zero, business, health, planning, taxation, skills and education.
“The time is now if we are to make the most of the next decade of growth opportunities and work with government to create a truly greener, happier, more environmentally sustainable society and economy.”
Baroness Fookes, Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Gardening and Horticulture Group said:
“I hope that the new body launched today will spearhead a new era in horticulture where at long last it will take its rightful place as a key player in mitigating climate change and promoting biodiversity. I see it as my role to support this endeavor and to do my best to get the Government to rise to the challenge too!”