Commenting on the report, Prospect negotiator Geraldine O’Connell said: "Our members support and are committed to the efficient delivery of effective services. But we remain to be convinced that Lord Haskins’ recommendations will deliver real improvements to the services provided to benefit rural communities, or that the costs of implementing such changes are justifiable."

Members, she said, believe the aims of the review could be achieved through closer partnership and more co-ordinated ways of working rather than such wholesale re-structuring and the amalgamation of these distinct organisations. The union believes it will create turmoil among the same professionals whose working lives were profoundly disrupted by the formation of Defra only two years ago.

O’Connell also questioned where the funding required for the programme will be coming from. "Any attempts to do this ‘on the cheap’ will result in wasted public money. We require guarantees and reassurances that this programme will be fully funded, as Lord Haskins envisages in his report.

"If the government attempts to bring in structural changes to the organisations involved in rural delivery without new money, we fear that it will be paid for in job losses and a subsequent deterioration in the quality of the services provided."

The union is also calling on Defra to demonstrate a business case for the recommendations that clearly shows the practicalities of its implementation, its timetable, value for money and the benefits to rural communities.

Prospect represents members working in core Defra and key agencies, such as the Rural Development Service, the Forestry Commission, English Nature, the Countryside Agency and the Environment Agency among others.