SERVICES in rural areas of Worcestershire face a shake-up after Government adviser Lord Haskins' report proposed the creation of a new "integrated" rural agency.

It would be created by a merger of English Nature, the Rural Development Service and parts of the Countryside Agency.

Lord Haskins insisted his plans, outlined in the report out yesterday, would strengthen English Nature, rather than axe it, as green groups had feared.

Rob Williams, area manager for English Heritage in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, welcomed the report.

He said: "If the report is implemented with the appropriate resources behind it, then this will lead to the benefit of the people in rural communities as well as the natural environment in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

"We greatly welcome it and recognise there is a terrific amount of work to do over the next few years."

Lord Haskins said: "The role and remit of English Nature will strengthen.

"What the name of the new agency will be, I don't know. I would be quite glad to see it called English Nature.

"One of the main objectives I have is to strengthen the independence of organisations such as English Nature by separating them from Defra and the policy-making role by insisting on the importance of them giving independent advice to Whitehall.

"Under my arrangement, they will be heard much more clearly than they are at the present time."

Lord Haskins indicated Defra had a bad record in generating bureaucracy.

"The solution is to have fewer agencies, fewer streams of funding and to decentralise," he said.

Environmentalists said changing English Nature would remove a critic of the Government as the organisation has differed with Ministers on issues like GM food, road building and airport expansion.

But Ministers insisted the watchdog's work would not be watered down and the region's English Heritage branch is also confident about its future.

The report followed questions from MPs about the Defra's £300m budget and the nearly 300 different agencies under its control.