Lords vote for Amendment 130: a chance to fix the Planning and Infrastructure Bill
7th November 2025
A vote in the House of Lords has offered a glimmer of hope for our most vulnerable habitats and species – and could remove the most dangerous element of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
As it stands, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill would enable developers to build on protected sites, and habitats supporting protected species, using Environmental Delivery Plans.
Peers voted in strong support of Amendment 130 to the Bill. If passed by MPs in the House of Commons, this amendment will ensure that Environmental Delivery Plans could only be used to address diffuse development impacts, such as on water quantity, water quality and air quality. Crucially, it would rule out their use for direct impacts on protected species or habitats – including our National Nature Reserves, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Special Areas of Conservation.
Ahead of the Lords debate, we urged Peers to vote for Amendment 130, stressing this as the final chance to prevent Environmental Delivery Plans from allowing developers to build over protected sites.
Freshwater Habitats Trust is particularly concerned about the threats that Environmental Delivery Plans could pose to freshwater wildlife. To reverse the long decline of freshwater biodiversity, we must protect the remaining high-quality habitats – the foundation for wider ecological recovery.
With Amendment 130 in place, Environmental Delivery Plans could help to address cumulative, landscape-scale problems like nutrient pollution. But without it, they represent a serious threat to our most vulnerable wildlife.
This amendment will be considered in the House of Commons. We now need to ensure MPs vote to remove the most dangerous element of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill by supporting Amendment 130.
To help safeguard our most vulnerable habitats and species, please ask your MP to vote for Amendment 130, using our template letter.
Write to your MP
- Pond at Cutteslowe, Oxfordshire
About the Planning and Infrastructure Bill
The controversial Planning and Infrastructure Bill was introduced to Parliament on 11th March, proposing sweeping changes to the way the impacts of development on nature are assessed and mitigated. Part III of the Bill lays the groundwork for a Nature Restoration Levy, paid by developers where a development impacts a protected species or site covered in an Environmental Delivery Plan.