Planning reforms put precious habitats and wildlife at risk, nature groups warn

Chief executives of 32 leading conservation organisations are calling for amendments to protect nature in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

New planning reforms could push species towards extinction and destroy precious habitats, the UK’s leading nature organisations have warned.

The proposed Planning and Infrastructure Bill could allow developers to effectively disregard environmental rules and community concerns, increasing the risk of sewage in rivers, flooding and loss of valued woods and parks, they said.

A letter to ministers signed by leading conservation organisations, including the Wildlife Trusts, the Woodland Trust, the RSPB, the National Trust, WWT, the Rivers Trust, the Marine Conservation Society and called on the Government to deliver the Bill’s promised “win-win” for nature and growth.

The Government says the current planning system is not working for either growth, with housing and infrastructure development held back by complex, unwieldy processes, or for nature, which is in significant decline in the UK.

It has set out reforms in the legislation, including introducing environmental development plans that would allow a proposed scheme that could harm legally protected sites or wildlife to pay a “nature restoration levy” to enable the habitat or species to be improved overall at a “strategic” scale.

But conservation groups, which claim the Government is painting species such as bats, newts and spiders as a block on development, warned the legislation in its current form would significantly weaken environmental law.

While this “strategic approach” could work for some issues such as river pollution, it would be inappropriate for species that are found only in certain sites or irreplaceable habitat such as ancient woodland, they said.

The groups added that some of the country’s  most protected, valuable and vulnerable sites for nature, such as heathlands, woodlands and wetlands, would no longer have strong safeguards and would be at risk of damage and destruction by new development.

In the letter, they warned: “Environmental delivery plans could allow damaging development to disregard environmental requirements without proper scientific foundations, without any attempt to avoid harm, and without any guarantee that measures will be delivered before significant or irreversible harm takes place.”

They called for the Government, which has pledged to meet environmental and nature targets including halting declines in species and protecting a third of land for wildlife by 2030, to amend the Bill so it works for nature recovery and development.

Amendments are needed to ensure developers prioritise avoiding environmental damage first, with harm to protected sites only permitted for overriding public interest, to base decisions on scientific evidence, and guarantee the benefits for nature upfront, they said.

The new rules should ensure a net gain for nature, with a test that requires definite, measurable and significant benefits, rather than just probable improvements, the groups said.

“Investing in nature makes clear economic sense. Taking a wrecking ball to the very thing the economy and supply chains depend on does not.”

The letter to Environment Secretary Steve Reed and housing minister Matthew Pennycook has been signed by the chief executives of 32 nature organisations.

Richard Benwell, chief executive of the Wildlife and Countryside Link coalition, said: “The Government is right that a win-win is possible for nature and development, but the Planning Bill is completely one-sided.

“It throws environmental protection to the wind, with little to offer future generations or communities fearful for the future of nature.

“It would leave vulnerable species and irreplaceable habitats like chalk streams and ancient woodlands more exposed than ever to unsustainable development.

“Ministers must strengthen safeguards to ensure development can’t proceed without every effort to avoid harm to protected wildlife, that rigorous science informs decision-making, and that compensation for damage isn’t kicked years into the future.”

Beccy Speight, RSPB chief executive, said that without amendments, the legislation would “supercharge the decline of our most precious habitats and wildlife”.

She said: “Investing in nature makes clear economic sense. Taking a wrecking ball to the very thing the economy and supply chains depend on does not.

“The UK Government must urgently address the Bill’s key failings and instead of weakening protections, prioritise avoiding harm, base decisions on science, and guarantee upfront environmental benefits that will see nature restored at scale.”

Harry Bowell, director of land and nature at the National Trust, said: “Nature experts are clear – the Bill as it stands marks a step backwards in nature protections, rather than the ‘win-win’ for biodiversity and development promised by ministers.

“With steep declines in wildlife continuing, none of us can afford for new laws to make this problem worse.

“We urge the Government to look at the carefully considered changes we propose. Nature can thrive alongside development, but only with the right safeguards in place.”

Cover photo:  Conservation groups warn habitat such as ancient woodland are at risk from planning reforms (Alamy/PA)