Planning and Infrastructure Bill threatens nature

By Charlotte Owen, Conservation Manager

Alongside our proactive work to restore nature in Sussex, we must also take action to defend nature from multiple ongoing threats.

Locally, one of the greatest pressures comes from development and new changes to planning laws now threaten to demolish essential environmental protections.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill was announced as a ‘win-win’ for nature and development. But as it stands, it could dismantle vital nature safeguards without effective replacement, allowing developers to ‘pay cash to trash’ nature.

The draft Bill could soon be passed - but there’s a chance to amend the wording now, while it’s being decided. We can’t let this Bill become law without the safeguards needed to protect nature.

Take action today

That’s why we have written an open letter to Angela Rayner, who is Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, and Deputy Prime Minister. Please take action today and add your name to the letter:

Sign the letter and have your say

How we plan for our future is important for our health, wealth and wellbeing. Threats to nature and climate pose big financial risks, and the Government needs to ensure that their appetite for growth doesn’t result in costly mistakes.

Done right, nature makes every development high-quality, attractive and sustainable. Nature makes us healthier, happier and even wealthier. Making some easy changes to this Bill now would lead to wilder, healthier homes, workplaces, and lives. We all deserve that.

Nature or development? Let's have both.

What’s the problem with the Planning and Infrastructure Bill?

Part III of the Bill allows developers to pay a Nature Restoration Levy or ‘development tax’ to ignore environmental protections set out in law (by the Habitats Regulations 2017 and Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981).

The Bill would allow development to cause environmental harm, potentially wiping out local populations of protected species, as long as relevant environmental improvements are created elsewhere. As written, the Bill would allow developers to jump straight to offsetting the harm they cause, rather than trying to avoid causing the harm in the first place. And since there’s no requirement for environmental improvements to be delivered before the development takes place, there’s a huge risk these promised improvements may never materialise. If they do, there’s no guarantee the improvements will be substantial enough.

This poses a huge risk to nature. There is an urgent need to incorporate nature recovery into the planning system but at the moment, the risks vastly outweigh any potential benefits – and these are risks we cannot afford to take. Getting this right could finally update the planning system to recognise the fundamental importance of nature and the critical services provided by the natural world. Getting it wrong would be an ecological disaster.

What needs to happen?

We are calling on Ministers to work with us to deliver the win-win scenario originally promised by the Government when the Bill was first announced.

Along with other conservation groups, The Wildlife Trusts have put forward the following priority amendments:

• Prioritise Avoiding Harm: Developers must first avoid environmental damage before relying on Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs), 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.

As well as challenging the risks posed by the Bill, we are working to add in positive measures for nature. We have tabled further nature recovery amendments to other parts of the Bill to ensure better protection for Local Wildlife Sites and chalk streams and create a Wildbelt designation to protect recovering habitats.

Please take action today and add your name to the letter: wtru.st/planning-bill