Labour is pushing through a bill that represents one of the biggest threats to British biodiversity in our lifetimes.The Planning and Infrastructure (PI) Bill will give the green light to developers who want to bulldoze through environmentally damaging projects. Not content with the already damaging plans, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced new measures to limit the say local councils have over projects in their area.
Reeves called local councils “blockers” who had “gummed up” the planning system with “burdensome bureaucracy”. She said:
“Our pro-growth planning bill shows we are serious about cutting red tape to get Britain building again, backing the builders not the blockers to speed up projects and show investors that we are a country that gets spades in the ground and our economy growing.”
The government is also seeking to limit the role that Natural England will have in the planning process.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed stated that: “It is simply not true that nature has to lose for economic growth to succeed.” The thing is that more often than not this is actually completely true. The ecologically damaging projects that are being pushed forward in the name of economic growth are very often undertaken at the expense of biodiversity and the welfare of British wildlife.
The announcement of the new amendments comes ahead of a reading of the bill in the House of Lords on 20 October.
A license to trash
As it stands, the Bill would hand corporate developers a dangerous license to trash, allow them to make a one-off payment into a Nature Restoration Fund to offset the environmental destruction that their developments will cause.
The Nature Restoration Fund is set to be administered by Natural England. However the head of Natural England incurred the government’s wrath earlier this year by daring to publicly criticise their pet project. Tony Juniper – the head of the body – has said that many of the government’s justifications for the Bill are “not necessarily fully backed by evidence”. The moves by Reeves and Reed to limit Natural England’s influence on the new planning regime are likely intended to head off the possible barriers that the organisation might pose to unfettered private development.
Secretary of State for Business and Trade Peter Kyle and Chancellor Rachel Reeves at a building site in Sunderland.
Moves to muzzle local councils
Reeves and Reed’s new measures new measures would allow government ministers to use so-called “holding directions“ to stop local councils from turning down planning permission for new projects. This could be done whilst politicians are considering whether to use controversial ‘call-in’ powers, which allow them to take decision-making powers away from local government if a project relates to state interests.
Labour is arguing that their bill is about providing housing for the poor. Frankly, the rhetoric about providing affordable housing is a smokescreen to hide the fact that this bill is about capitalism, plain and simple. Its aimed at removing as many of the remaining barriers as possible to corporate developments which will benefit the rich, not the poor.
A threat to biodiversity
Labour has - from the beginning - been trying to justify this bill with some profoundly anti-nature statements. Back in April Reeves announced the PI Bill by proclaiming that she wanted to “cut red tape” so that developers can “stop worrying about the bats and the newts”. This bill will indeed be profoundly damaging to the UK’s bats and newts, two species which are important indicators of biodiversity. However, the effects will be much broader than that. It could allow developers to move forward with projects that infringe on Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and protected Ramsar sites. Nightingales, otters, badgers, wading birds and Turtle Doves are just a few of the species expected to feel the effects of the Bill.
Labour’s recent announcement specifically mentioned wanting to remove barriers to the construction of offshore wind farms. Wind energy can often be damaging to wildlife and biodiversity.
While renewable energy is essential, Labour’s approach risks pitting climate policy against nature rather than aligning the two.
Earlier this year Protect the Wild reported how conservationists and researchers reacted with dismay to the Scottish Government approving SSE Renewables’ offshore windfarm at Berwick Bank. The RSPB and others are deeply concerned that this project will negatively affect Puffins, Kittiwakes and Gannets. The windfarm will be close to Bass Rock, home to the world’s largest colony of Northern Gannets. The charity predicts that Berwick Bank will “be one of the most damaging windfarms for birds we are aware of anywhere on the planet”.
Similarly, a Galileo Empower wind energy project in mid-Wales threatens endangered red squirrels, otters, pine martens, water voles, bats and several species of bird.
Labour’s latest changes to the PI Bill are intended to stack the odds firmly against nature and place all the power in the hands of corporate developers. Those of us who care about protecting biodiversity need to fight tooth and nail to stop this bill.
Steamrollering the opposition
One thing’s for sure, the struggle against the PI Bill isn’t going to be an easy one. The government is doing all it can to stamp out any opposition. Labour has been desperate to quash any and all dissent to its plans. For example, on 16 July the party suspended North East Hertfordshire MP Chris Hinchliff after he dared to oppose the government’s plans. Hinchliff had been a consistent critic of the PI Bill. He was suspended by Kier Starmer alongside three other MPs on 16 July for opposing the party’s controversial welfare reforms and persistently opposing the government.
Protect the Wild’s Rob Pownall commented on Reeves and Reed’s amendments. He said:
“The amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill strip local councils and communities of their ability to protect the natural world. By weakening oversight and sidelining Natural England, the government is giving developers more power to destroy wildlife habitats without proper scrutiny. This is another step towards deregulation that puts profit before nature.”
Support our petition
Protect the Wild has launched a petition where you can contact your local MP using our prewritten letter in just a few seconds.
“The UK is already facing a biodiversity emergency. One in seven species is at risk of extinction, and 41% are in decline. Yet this Bill weakens local environmental protections and turns nature conservation into a pay-to-destroy scheme. Developers will be given a green light to bulldoze through fragile ecosystems for short-term gain, with no obligation to repair the damage where it occurs.”
Check out our ‘Five reasons the Planning and Infrastructure bill will be disastrous for British wildlife’
You can read the text of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on the Gov.UK website here.
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I have written to my MP but don't hold out much hope. He doesn't always respond, unlike the previous incumbent who was effectively ousted by Labour leadership to make room for an ally of Starmer. The current MP sides mainly with leadership policy and I doubt this will be any different but perhaps he'll surprise me.
(Un)Natural England. They sanction the slaughter of many bird species. Wouldn’t trust them for anything nature related
I have written to my MP but don't hold out much hope. He doesn't always respond, unlike the previous incumbent who was effectively ousted by Labour leadership to make room for an ally of Starmer. The current MP sides mainly with leadership policy and I doubt this will be any different but perhaps he'll surprise me.