Cities in England could be granted national park status – affording urban areas the same level of environmental protection as natural landscapes – as part of a new review of open spaces.

Harry Taylor www.theguardian.com 

The government is considering the proposed status, which would also entail management of the areas to maintain their biodiversity, in response to the Glover review of protected landscapes.

So far, London is England’s only city to have been awarded what is currently an informal designation, but officials are looking at officially granting it to others. It would mean that conservation and other environmental concerns would have to be taken into account when assessing planning applications.

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: “Natural England is taking forward a review of where any new designations might be, including whether there should be new national park cities or similar arrangements to protect nature close to where many people live.”

Natural England is also looking at increasing the number of national parks, with the Telegraph reporting that an upgrade of the Chilterns and the Cotswolds from Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) to national park status is being discussed.

The impact of HS2 rail works on the landscape of the Chilterns has been the subject of protests in recent years, as under the plans, a 10-mile tunnel is due to cut through the area. It is unclear what impact the designation might have on construction.

If the move goes ahead, it could lead to the biggest increase in parkland in England since the creation of the Peak District, Lake District and Dartmoor national parks in 1951.

Work is currently under way to look at new AONBs in the Yorkshire Wolds and the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge. Potential extensions to the existing Chilterns and Surrey Hills areas are also being examined.

The proposals are in response to an independent review led by the journalist Julian Glover on natural landscapes in England. He proposed that all national parks be run by one authority, rather than by separate entities.

Presenting his report in 2019, Glover also called for a greater diversity in national park authority and AONB boards, criticising the existing makeup as having too few black, Asian and minority ethnic members, and too many who are male and of retirement age.

The government expects to consult on draft proposals later this year, after it has formally responded to the Glover review.

A Defra spokesperson said: “Our landscapes are national treasures, and we are committed to ensuring that they flourish as havens for nature and are places that everyone can visit and enjoy.

“The landscapes review set out a compelling vision for more beautiful, more biodiverse and more accessible national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We welcome this ambition, and we have been actively engaging with stakeholders to inform our response to the review, which we intend to publish in due course.”

Dominic Raab was ordered home from his holiday in Crete by Downing Street as Afghanistan collapsed into chaos but stayed for two more days because Boris Johnson told him he could.

Tim Shipman www.thetimes.co.uk 

A senior No 10 official advised the foreign secretary on Friday, August 13, to return but Whitehall sources say that Raab then “nobbled” the prime minister, who agreed to him remaining at the five-star resort until Sunday evening. Raab landed in Britain at 1.40am on Monday, after Kabul had fallen.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign Office minister with responsibility for Afghanistan, was also on holiday as the militants swept to power. He was on a staycation until Sunday, the day they marched into the Afghan capital.

The confirmation that Johnson let his foreign secretary stay away at a time of international crisis will raise questions about his judgment. A senior government official said: “Raab was told to come back on Friday. On Sunday there was a sense of disbelief among everyone at the most senior levels in No 10 that he wasn’t there. He seems to have nobbled Boris after he was told to come back.”

Raab’s allies say he was told to “begin the process of coming home”, but one added: “In discussions with the prime minister it was agreed he would come back on Sunday.”

The exchanges cap an extraordinary week with a toxic briefing war over who was to blame for the Afghan catastrophe in which ministers, political aides, No 10 staff and civil servants have all found fault with the performance of Raab and the Foreign Office.

The bad blood continued last night as:

•It was revealed that Sir Laurie Bristow, the British ambassador in Kabul, was “eyeballed” by a senior military officer and told not to leave as his team were planning to pull out last weekend. Bristow was ordered to stay by a Foreign Office mandarin London.

•Ministers in other departments complained that Raab banned them, several months ago, from speaking to ambassadors without his permission, a stance they say hamstrung British preparations for the Afghan withdrawal

•It was claimed the Foreign Office crisis centre is itself in crisis, with thousands of unread emails from people trying to get safe passage out of Afghanistan

•Raab was accused of not updating the “non-combatant evacuation plan” for Afghanistan in the weeks before US troops pulled out

•Raab was branded a “control freak” by cabinet colleagues, who said he had set up a system to micromanage decisions that collapsed in his absence.

One minister said that Raab’s time standing in for Johnson, when the prime minister was in hospital with coronavirus last year, “broke his brain” and led him to try to control too much, slowing down critical decision making.

“When he had to deputise for the PM he saw the whole picture and I don’t think he’s been able to rewind to just be the foreign secretary,” the minister said.

“In Dom’s head everything is his responsibility. Everything has to go through him. His control freakery is off the scale. He can’t bear to take a decision without the full information. He’s Theresa May on speed.”

Raab was told to come home after a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee on August 13. Those present at the meeting say he was “obsessed with the airport” in Kabul, and spent most of his time talking about the logistical issues for evacuation, including plane timetables, rather than the consular work of processing visas.

“Dom and the Foreign Office seemed very focused on the airbase and air operations rather than the diplomacy of the situation,” said a source. “That raised quite a few eyebrows because frankly there are better qualified people to be worrying about that. He doesn’t need to be worried about air traffic controllers and the air base.

“When there was talk about the international diplomatic effort it seemed that people like Michael [Gove] had given more thought to it than he had.”

Allies defended Raab, saying he was a meticulous minister who works harder than anyone in government. They pointed out that his media operation was hamstrung last week by the absence of his experienced special adviser Robert Oxley, who was on honeymoon.

The foreign secretary was already under fire for refusing a request from his own officials to put in a call to the Afghan foreign minster Mohammed Haneef Atmar. Responsibility was instead delegated to Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park, another Foreign Office minister. But it was Lord Ahmad, whose responsibilities cover South Asia, who was Atmar’s main point of contact in government over the past year as peace talks were under way in Doha between the Taliban and Afghan government.

A tweet of Dominic Raab making the phone call.