Are newts really holding up development?
31st January 2025
Freshwater Habitats Trust CEO Professor Jeremy Biggs responds to the Chancellor’s speech on proposed planning reforms.
By now, everyone’s probably aware that the Government’s speech-writers love taking cheap shots at newts. In her recent speech in Oxfordshire, setting out proposals for planning reforms, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves singled out newts (as well as bats) as obstacles to development.
It’s not the first time we’ve heard newts being used as the scapegoat for development delays. But, let’s be clear, it’s simply not true.
There are many good examples of development and wildlife conservation going hand in hand. Our own work with the Newt Conservation Partnership is a prime example of how a well thought–out and expertly–delivered strategy can be a win-win for nature and economic growth.
The partnership creates and restores habitats for the NatureSpace District Licensing Scheme, which was established specifically to deal with the problem of development delays caused by newts, giving developers a cheaper and faster way to meet their legal requirements and compensate for their proposed impacts. We’re creating habitats away from development and it’s providing better conservation outcomes than onsite mitigation alone.
Today, we’ve released the results of our Newt Conservation Partnership monitoring programme. The findings speak for themselves: eight out of every 10 established pond sites are now colonised by Great Crested Newts – and many other threatened animals and plants are being discovered in and around the ponds. Clearly, our approach is working for wildlife.
And it’s working for developers too. Nearly 70 local authorities have now adopted the scheme and we’re staying ahead of development by providing a bank of new ponds, ensuring development is not held up.
The scheme’s 25-year agreements mean that farmers and landowners are paid annually to maintain biodiversity on their land, ensuring the ponds stay in good condition for the long term.
So, while newts may provide speech-writers with an easy punchline, they’re no longer a blocker to development. Rather than framing protecting species as an obstacle to progress, shouldn’t we focus on solutions, like District Licensing, that benefit wildlife and people?