Proposed Planning Bill "step backwards" for nature, says Herts charity
The proposed Planning and Infrastructure Bill is back in the Commons for its report stage and third reading
The Hertfordshire and Middlesex Trust has called part three of the proposed Planning and Infrastructure Bill a "step backwards" for nature, should it pass.
The Planning & Infrastructure Bill was introduced in March, after the Chancellor said "nature protections were a blocker on development".
Currently going through its Report Stage in the House of Commons, the Bill aims to accelerate housing and infrastructure delivery in England.
It's part of the government's target to build 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England.
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio, the Director of Nature Recovery at the Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, Chloë Edwards, said: "Currently we have developers wanting to develop, and our nature laws mean that they need to, as a first point of call, avoid harm to nature. So that is an upfront consideration.
"The big change in approach proposed through part three of the planning and infrastructure bill is that developers will be able to just pay into this fund instead of properly addressing their impact up front.
"In theory that might work, but what we've got at the minute is something that's being proposed where there are not any legal safeguards. There's not any requirement for ecological kind of evidence, and there's no priority given to doing what we do currently, which is avoid harm in the first place."
The proposed Bill would introduce a Nature Restoration Levy, allowing developers to pay a fee to a nation-wide Nature Restoration Fund.
The fund would be used for large environmental projects by organisations such as Natural England.
By paying the NRL, developers would be relieved of the need to conduct individual environmental assessments and interventions.
The Trust has warned local sites would be under real threat of destruction under the proposed Bill.
Research recently commissioned by The Wildlife Trusts showed the public think the Government is failing nature, with 75% of adults saying the Government is not taking the nature crisis seriously enough.
In the Government's proposed Bill, funds from the NRL would be pooled and used by delivery bodies like Natural England to implement larger-scale, strategic nature restoration projects.
Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts has called part three of the proposed Bill "a license to destroy".
“It replaces vital nature protections with a weaker substitute, and has been described by the Government’s own nature watchdog as ‘environmentally regressive’ because it puts irreplaceable habitats and threatened species at risk." said Mr Bennett.
“Nature is in crisis and must not suffer further damage. Much loved places like the New Forest and Peak District Moors could now be at risk – that’s why we’re now saying the misleadingly named ‘Nature Recovery’ section must be removed.”
The Wildlife Trusts, including in Hertfordshire, and other NGOs called for a series of amendments which would have toned down the most damaging aspects of the Bill, including adding safeguards for irreplaceable habitats like chalk streams.
The Government rejected these suggestions and now The Wildlife Trusts have joined forces with the RSPB to call for the Nature Recovery part 3 of the Bill to be removed.
We have contact the Department of Food, Rural Affairs, and the Environment for comment.