The Planning and Infrastructure Bill: rhetoric vs reality on nature and development

our CEO, Kit Stoner, reflects on the latest developments of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

If you listened to the second reading of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on Monday 24^th March, you might be forgiven for thinking that the whole Bill was designed to stop “the HS2 bat tunnel” happening again. It was mentioned at least 10 times. Ministers and MPs are using it as the scapegoat for all that is perceived to be wrong with the planning system and to illustrate why the Bill is so important.

Unfortunately, when any of them talk about it, they choose not to mention key facts that undermine this argument. Is this because they don’t know them (surely that can’t be the case?) or because they choose not to share them as they don’t support their rhetoric?

If the current planning system had been applied effectively there would have been no need for the £100 million bat tunnel to be built. The first principle of the mitigation hierarchy is to avoid negative impacts completely. The government and HS2 chose not to complete a strategic environmental assessment – if that had been undertaken they could have fully assessed the impacts. It could have identified viable alternatives that could have avoided significant expenditure and delay. No bat tunnel, no irreplaceable ancient woodland destroyed, massive costs eliminated.

Ironically the Planning and Infrastructure Bill makes no reference to the mitigation hierarchy. So the crucial tool that could have prevented the bat tunnel that so obsesses politicians and the media, is not in the Bill….

This is just one example where rhetoric does not match reality. Bats and other wildlife have been deemed blockers of housing development, again accompanied by statements that are just not true. Another example is the distinguished jumping spider (yes that really is its official name!) at Ebbsfleet. Keir Starmer declared that 15,000 new homes had been blocked by the discovery of the spider. Not true. The majority of the homes are going ahead but 1,300 were proposed for development on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), but the jumping spider is not found in the area that was proposed for development (you can read more here).

In her presentation of the Bill on Monday, Angela Rayner said that the Bill is the way forward for nature and development while “stopping the pointless pitting of nature against development”. I wholeheartedly support her second statement and would ask that she and her colleagues set a good example on this.

She also states that she wants a ‘win win’ for nature and development. Again, on that we align.

We need homes for people and for our wildlife. There is absolutely no need to sacrifice one for the other.

But the Bill in its current form will not be a win for nature, for developers or for society at large. We urge the government to put forward amendments to address the following concerns:

• Undermining of the mitigation hierarchy – Developers will no longer be required to avoid harm where possible.

• Potentially skipping site-based surveys – Bats are site-loyal species, and losing these surveys will make their protection almost impossible. It will also impact ancient trees and other site-loyal species such as hazel dormice. Their loss cannot be compensated for and constitutes an erosion of our natural heritage.

• A 'pay-to-destroy' system – A new Nature Restoration Fund would allow developers to bypass legal protections with no clear benefit for nature recovery.

• More power to ministers, less scrutiny – the current and future Environment Secretaries could change protections at will, and communities will have fewer rights to challenge bad planning decisions.

We have been and will continue to work constructively

with Defra, MHCLG and Natural England, but urge Ministers and MPs to listen to the overwhelming concerns of the environment sector and indeed the general public.

Do keep an eye on the BCT news page for the latest updates on the Bill and please join BCT’s campaign email list to receive updates in your in box .