Tom Holland from London, who is renowned for his books and podcast: ‘The Rest Is History’ has been using his platform to speak out for protecting wildlife in South Wiltshire.

Last Thursday, he joined a live panel held by the Conservative Environment Network which also put a spotlight on the chair of Natural England Tony Juniper, MP Ruth Edwards and Danny Kruger, where they discussed how nature recovery needs to be made ‘real’ to members of the public.

He wants to support the rewilding of Wiltshire, and wants to raise awareness after a YouGov poll found 81 per cent of people support rewilding of the nation, with voters wanting to see native habitats and species restored.

After the event, Tom said: “I’m grateful for the chance to make the case for protecting hedgehogs, chalk streams and iconic prehistoric landscapes in south Wiltshire.”

He spoke passionately in the discussion, stating: “I think there is scope for a conservative government to do what conservatives do so well which is to fixate on the particular.

“So we’ve talked about the brown long-eared bat coming in. That is what makes people want to support the environment, and to see our landscapes restored.

“It’s that sense of personal contact.

“If conservatives said we are in favour of sustainability, the environment, and all these kind of abstractions but specifically we are in favour of seeing hedgehog numbers restored. We the conservative government are going to commit to restoring hedgehog numbers. We are the party for Mrs Tiggy-Winkle. I think voters would get behind that.”

He added: “Speaking as a floating voter myself I would love to see that happen.”

The lack of hedgehogs in Wiltshire has been an issue the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust encourage people to help them get data on. In 2019, The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust called on the county’s families to become ‘Hedgehog Heroes’ by recording their sightings of the prickly hedge-dwellers, so it is something that people in the county have been aware of. But it is not clear how much action has been taken by local authorities to improve numbers thus far.

Following the debate, Tom continues to shine a light on his stance for protecting Wiltshire’s landscapes, and is also supporting Stonehenge Alliance’s open letter ‘calling on the Prime Minister to abandon the damaging Stonehenge road scheme and to consider an approach in keeping with the demands of environmental commitments.’

The protests come after the Government decided not to appeal against the High Court judgement quashing development for the scheme.

Tom tweeted after the panel discussion on protecting the environment ended: “We wait to see if the Government will accept the legal ruling against the #StonehengeTunnel or whether the fight will have to go on.”