Freshwater Habitats Trust response to new Planning Bill rumours

Through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, the Government is pushing to reduce site-level protections for our most threatened habitats and species.  

We’re now hearing troubling reports of a second planning bill, which would: 

1. Further weaken protections for Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protected Areas (SPAs) by scrapping the precautionary principle.  
2. Replace the current list of European protected species with a ‘smaller, UK-only list of protected species’ that would reduce protections for ‘types of newt’. 

It looks like Government may now be giving up entirely on the ‘win-win’ rhetoric, and openly gunning for the Habitats Regulations – this country’s strongest nature protections. 

The precautionary principle stops development that could harm internationally important nature sites from going ahead, unless there’s proof that the project won’t adversely affect the site. Whilst we’re yet to hear firm details, replacing the precautionary principle with an assessment of ‘risks and benefits’ is a clear downgrade. 

Given the endless frontbench scapegoating of bats, newts and snails, we perhaps shouldn’t be surprised to find protected species designations are also in the firing line. Initial reports suggest that Great Crested Newts will be amongst the first species to be delisted. 

Great Crested Newts have suffered massive Europe-wide declines, and the UK is an  important stronghold for the species. Removing protection for Great Crested Newts in the UK could jeopardise the species’ future across Europe.  

It’s time to stop scapegoating threatened habitats and species. Nature protections are responsible for a tiny fraction of development delays, and in many cases, these delays can be ameliorated within existing law. For instance, District Licensing shows that Great Crested Newt populations can be protected, whilst enabling development, within the Habitats Regulations as they stand. In this crucial decade, we ought to be restoring nature at pace. Instead, Government is choosing to focus on facilitating its destruction. 

If Labour proceeds with these reforms, it will have broken entirely with its manifesto pledge to ‘tackle the nature emergency’. We urge Government to reconsider.