A number of the UK's leading conservation groups have accused the government of failing to deliver on environmental matters. The 41 organisations that make up the Wildlife and Countryside Link assessed government performance against its own commitments and found that the Coalition has failed in a third of cases.

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The Link, which includes RSBP, WWF and RSPCA is the latest in a line of influential environmentalists and green groups to accuse the government of failing to live up to promises of becoming the UK's 'greenest ever,' made while in opposition. In October, campaigner Tony Juniper accused Environment Secretary Owen Paterson of having "taken green policy back to the '70s", and revived the fallacy that the environment is the enemy of growth.

RSPB spokesperson Sue Armstrong-Brown said that the Nature Check 2013 report reveals the government is failing in more areas, and succeeding in fewer, than in previous years. Speaking on BBC's Today Programme on Tuesday she said falling biodiversity and wildlife protection is one key area where the reality of government action does not live up to the hype.

Armstrong-Brown said, "The England biodiversity strategy is neglected, underfunded and behind schedule… If we can resolve some of these problems and take away the mythical tension between economic recovery and environmental protection that colours so many of the decisions that could help the natural environment, we would be in a far stronger position now."

The Wildlife and Countryside Link found that, "The proportion of nature commitments on which the Government is failing has steadily worsened during its term in office. Areas in which it is falling short include protection of the Green Belt, farm animal welfare, designating the full network of Marine Conservation Zones and reversing wildlife declines." The traffic-light based system used in the report revealed that the Coalition government has failed to live upto its promises in nine of 25 assessed areas, and succeeded in just four.

Responding to criticism, Owen Paterson claimed, "I've constantly said that the need to grow the economy and to improve the environment are not mutually exclusive." The Defra secretary maintained that the Nature Check report was opinion-based and claimed it had been overly harsh on the government. He added, "The environment is such a huge, vast, all-encompassing tableau [that] there are areas where we will have gone backwards, there are areas where we will [have] advanced."

The environment secretary used the examples of lapwings and otters as species that have 'bounced back' and pointed out that England's waters have continued to grow cleaner under the current government. However, he was accused of taking undue credit for long-term improvements, with roots stretching back years before the coalition government came to power, by BBC presenter John Humphrys.     

The Defra secretary then alleged that the Badger Trust, one of the 41 conservation groups to have contributed to the Nature Check, had influenced the report's authors. The Trust has been vocal in its opposition to Defra's badger culling trials, and has threatened legal action over the eight week extension granted to the Gloucestershire cull company by Natural England after the company's markspeople failed to kill even half of their target number of badgers in the initial six-week trial period.

However, the environment groups did praise some areas of 'green leadership' where they believe the government has made progress. These include intervention on ash dieback and international work to protect elephants, rhinos and whales. The report's authors urged the Government to implement the Common Agricultural Policy so that it delivers as much as possible for wildlife and the countryside.

Commenting on the Nature Check, Wildlife and Countryside Link Director Dr Elaine King said, "David Cameron promised the greenest Government ever. Using the Government’s own promises as a yardstick, today’s findings show he’s failed to stick to his plan. We're told an economy in crisis is a higher priority than nature in crisis. Yet the Government is missing a huge opportunity – a healthy environment helps the economy and enhances people's health and wellbeing.

"Our wetlands alone provide a home for millions of migrating birds and other wildlife, but they also give us £350 million worth of flood protection a year through storing rainwater that would otherwise run off our roads and fields into our towns. Without wetlands, the cost of resulting flood damage would need to be met by businesses and Government and passed on to the public through higher prices and higher taxes."