Labour's new planning bill "will lead to permanent biodiversity loss"

Bill will allow developers to destroy natural habitats as long as they pay a 'nature restoration levy'

Labour's new Planning and Infrastructure (PI) Bill will have devastating and long-lasting impacts on British wildlife. Protect the Wild explains why.

The announcement of the PI Bill has been a wake-up call for many of Britain's environmental defenders. The legislation, if passed, will allow developers to destroy natural habitats as long as they pay a 'nature restoration levy'. These proposed measures will strip away more of the UK's already sparse environmental protections and give a green light to big corporations who want to make a fast buck by literally steamrolling through ecologically damaging infrastructure projects. Importantly, the money paid to offset infrastructure projects will not have to go towards restoring the sites damaged in those projects, instead it further commodifies the UK's natural sites, treating them as expendable and interchangeable, allowing corporations to destroy ancient woodland, and then plant some trees somewhere else!

The Bill also seeks to make it easier for the government to compulsorily purchase property and land in order for 'nationally important infrastructure projects' to go ahead. This will make it harder to oppose projects like airport expansion, new road building and the building of more prisons (a long-term government plan).

Labour isn't being shy in admitting that the new measures will benefit developers at the expense of wildlife. Here's how Chancellor Rachel Reeves presented the proposals:

"We are reducing the environmental requirements placed on developers when they pay into a nature restoration fund that we have created, so they can focus on getting things built and stop worrying about the bats and the newts"

Reeves cited the delays faced by the huge HS2 railway infrastructure project due to the need for Environmental Impact Assessments. In fact, HS2 has caused massive environmental devastation and destroyed irreplaceable natural sites like the Calvert Jubilee Nature reserve.

"Just when we thought things couldn't get worse"

Protect the Wild's Founder Rob Pownall has produced a video response to these proposals, and to the government's track record in terms of wildlife over the past seven months. You can view it below:

Pownall explained how the new plans will be devastating for British wildlife. He argued:

"This new system will weaken local environmental protections. Developers will be allowed to damage vital habitats with the vague promise of restoring nature elsewhere. It risks turning nature protection into a pay-to-destroy scheme. Labour argues this will streamline infrastructure projects, but what it actually does is short-circuit environmental safeguards. Rushing through development without strict specific protections will undoubtedly lead to permanent biodiversity loss"

Crucially, the new system will allow developers to offset the environmental impacts of their projects by paying for regeneration work in another area. These plans are based on the flawed idea that one area of woodland or wetland, for example, is interchangeable with another. This is quite simply not the case, ecological systems are unique, precious and irreplaceable. Pownall explains:

"The most evident flaw in the Nature Restoration Fund is the assumption that biodiversity can be offset and that nature is interchangeable. Wildlife is highly location dependent a protected wetland, ancient woodland or rare grassland can't just be ripped apart and then recreated elsewhere. Many species rely on specific local conditions, and transplanting those conditions is obviously not straightforward or even guaranteed to succeed."

Biodiversity is already in crisis in the UK. In fact, one in seven species is already at risk of extinction, and 41% of all species are in decline.

Case study: How the PI Bill will affect badgers

Badgers are one species which will be adversely affected by the planning shortcuts offered to developers by the PI Bill.

The Badger Trust has released an article outlining the devastating impacts the plans will have on badgers. According to the Trust, in the new system, Natural England will assess the different environmental concerns of a new project such as the destruction of badger setts. An Environmental Delivery Plan (EDP) will be established for each area where a project will cause damage to a badger habitat, and developers will be asked to pay a 'Nature Restoration Levy' into the 'Nature Restoration Fund'. That's it, as long as companies pay into the fund they can destroy as many unique and precious habitats as they like. With badger numbers already halved due to the government's ongoing badger cull the effects could feasibly lead to badgers' existence being threatened in many areas of the UK.

The Badger Trust says that there is confusion and uncertainty about how the new system will be applied. They write:

"There is still considerable uncertainty as to how this system would be implemented for badgers. It is not clear how Natural England will be determining which environmental features are present on a proposed development site, and therefore which licenses would be needed - will this be through ecological surveying, using information available in biodiversity record centres, or through assumptions based on habitat and terrain?"

One thing is clear though, the PI Bill is terrible news for badgers. The Trust maintains:

"Badger Trust is concerned that badgers will not benefit from this system. Badgers living in, or foraging around, a proposed development site cannot wait for new nature reserves or restoration areas to be established.

Habitats that have supported wildlife for centuries are crucial for biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and the overall health and well-being of people and animals. Once these habitats are destroyed, they cannot be replaced with just a few seeds and shrubs."

We need to protect the natural world, not private profit

Naturalist and wildlife photographer Chris Packham reaffirmed his love of bats and Newts, and lambasted Reeves’ announcement:

"This obsession with growth is insane. We live on a planet with only a finite amount of resources. Lady Bird book of growth, page one is you can't keep growing if we want growth in this country, let's invest in industries that are sustainable, the renewables - it is already growing that. We could be far ahead if previous governments hadn't messed up and taken money out of that and ambition out of that. Let's invest in that renewable sector. Let's speed up the rapid transition away from fossil fuels, because we know we've got to do it."

The PI Bill is absolutely terrible news for British wildlife, and it's up to us to resist it.

Protect the Wild's Pownall concluded:

"At the end of the day, it's the same old story. Nature comes last, growth, development and corporate interests take priority, while biodiversity and the environment are treated as expendable. If Labour thinks that they can get away with this without a fight. Well, they're sorely mistaken, because those of us who care about wildlife won't be backing down anytime soon."

The PI Bill was debated at a second reading on Monday 24 March 2025 and has now been sent to a Public Bill Committee, which will, they say, "scrutinise the Bill line by line". The Committee is expected to report back to the House of Commons by Thursday 22 May 2025.

Not looking good...

After seven months of Labour rule, things certainly do not look any better for those of us who care about British wildlife. This Bill will be disastrous, and the government is pushing through the environmentally devastating Heathrow third runway. No action has been taken yet on fox hunting (although a consultation on a ban on trail hunting has been promised) and Labour has stated that it will allow the badger cull to continue until 2029, despite their pre-election pledge to end it. The government recently stated their support for the bird shooting industry.

Labour's new Planning and Infrastructure Bill represents a serious attack on nature and an attempt to protect corporations and private profit at the expense of British wildlife. We can expect renewed struggles over the coming months to overturn it, and to fight its impacts.

• Check out our page on 'Badgers and the law' and sign our parliamentary petition calling on the British government to end the badger cull, and adopt new methods to prevent bovine tuberculosis (TB)

• Read the Badger Trust's two statements about the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

• You can read the text of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on the Gov.UK website here.

Image of bat via Denley Photography/Unsplash. Stop HS2 image via Peter/Wikimedia Commons, Badger in woodland, via Vincent Van Zalinge/Unsplash

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