[5-minute read]

The new Planning & Infrastructure Bill – currently making its way through Parliament – aims to ‘get Britain building’ and provides ‘a win-win for development and for nature’ according to The Government. While there are some positives for nature in the bill – like a commitment to "delivering overall improvements for nature" – it risks ignoring vital nature protections that are essential for ensuring growth and development do not come at the cost of our natural environment.
 

Background to the Bill.

The Government have a plan to “get Britian building again” and “deliver economic growth”. To help them deliver this plan, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill aims to “speed up and streamline” the delivery of critical infrastructure (such as energy projects) and 1.5 million new homes.

The Bill forms part of the government’s Plan for Change mission, set out in Labour’s 2024 general election manifesto, and is a golden opportunity for The Government to deliver on its commitment to restoring nature and tackling the biodiversity and climate crises by putting nature recovery at the heart of delivering new homes and net zero energy infrastructure.
 

Myth-busting: is nature really blocking housing and preventing growth?

The short answer is ‘no’ it isn’t. Nature is too often painted as the enemy of economic growth; a barrier to building new houses and infrastructure. Unfortunately, this is a narrative that The Government itself has helped to perpetuate by blaming ‘newts and bats’ for blocking housing and the spiralling costs of the calamitous HS2 scheme.

But it is not born out by the facts:

• Far from newts blocking housing, the ‘District Level Licensing Scheme’ allows developers to offset impacts on great-crested newts by creating and/or enhancing ponds – something we and other Trusts have been leading providers of.
   
• Natural England objects to less than 1% of planning applications
   
• HS2 could have saved time and money by avoiding harm to nature – which is almost always much cheaper than having to mitigate or compensate for damage done – as the HS2 bat tunnel aptly illustrates.

As this blog post from The Wildlife Trusts’ Head of Land Use Planning - Becky Pullinger - shows, it isn’t nature that is stopping the building of the 1.5 million homes with planning permission that have not been built yet: Planning by numbers | The Wildlife Trusts

In nature, The Government could find its biggest ally in securing a healthy, sustainable economy and future. Restored rivers and floodplains can reduce flood risk, wetlands can help improve water quality, woodlands and saltmarsh can absorb carbon, and green spaces can improve our mental health.

We need a Planning & Infrastructure Bill that not only protects the nature we’ve got, but delivers nature-positive growth and development that restore nature for the benefit of people, businesses, and the economy.
 

What’s the risk to nature?

The Bill could undermine existing environmental laws and regulations that protect our most at-risk habitats and species, including:

• The absence of a requirement for developers to avoid harm to nature if possible first, before resorting to measures to "compensate" for damage (what’s know as the ‘Mitigation Hierarchy’).
• No guarantee that developers will have to pay the full cost of any measures needed to offset damage to nature (the ‘polluter pays’ principle), meaning measures may fall short of delivering overall improvements.

These, together with other shortcomings in the bill, could push some species towards extinction, and lead to irreversible loss of irreplaceable habitats - such as fen wetlands and ancient woodland – that have existed for hundreds or even thousands of years, years and cannot be recreated. This would make it less likely for the Government to meet its legally binding Environment Act targets.
 

What does that mean for Suffolk?

Irreplaceable habitats

So-called because of the difficulty of recreating them, if the bill doesn’t strengthen safeguards for nature there is a risk that irreplaceable habitats could be at risk from development.

Habitats such as fen wetlands - like those at our Carlton Marshes, Newbourne Springs, and Redgrave & Lopham Fen nature reserves - and ancient woodland - such as Bradfield Woods and pocket woodlands across the county - could become more vulnerable due to damage by development if the bill makes it easier for developers to claim that damage will be offset by creating new wetlands or woodlands elsewhere.

Endangered species

Rare and vulnerable wildlife - like dormouse, water voles, and other species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates - could all be as risk from inappropriate or poorly designed ‘strategic mitigation’ schemes, which allow developers to ignore harm done by development in return for paying for measures to benefit the species elsewhere. While such schemes have worked for some species – notably ‘District Level Licensing’ for great-crested newts – they should only be expanded to other species where there is good evidence that they will work and we can be confident in their positive outcomes.

What is Suffolk Wildlife Trust is doing?

We are working with The Wildlife Trusts and other partners to push for improved safeguards in the bill to protect nature and require development to do more to support nature recovery.

Four key amendments we are supporting as essential to preventing harm to nature are:

• Prioritise avoiding harm:  Developers must prioritise avoiding environmental damage before relying on mitigation schemes, with harm to protected sites only permitted for overriding public interest.
• Base decisions on science:  New protected features should only be added when clear scientific evidence supports the effectiveness of strategic approaches.
• Guarantee upfront benefits: Environmental improvements must be delivered upfront, especially for irreplaceable or significant damage, with a clear and transparent improvement plan.
• Ensure “Net Gain for nature: Strengthen the improvement test to require definite, measurable, and significant benefits, rather than just probable improvements.

Proposed amendments to the Bill will be debated and voted on in the House of Commons – probably in May/June. We will be trying to meet with Suffolk MPs to encourage them to support and vote for these amendments to make the Bill better for both people and nature
 

What can I do?

Please co-sign our open letter and add your thoughts on the need for development to go hand-in-hand with nature. This open letter will go to Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with your thoughts included.

Co-sign the Open Letter