Planning and Infrastructure Bill

A hedgehog crossing a road at night with a car driving passed.

It’s not ‘nature or development’. It’s both.

The UK Government promised to protect and restore nature. But less than a year in, new planning changes are set to weaken environmental protections for developments, like housebuilding.

This is bad for wildlife and for people.

The UK Government’s response to months of tireless campaigning from The Wildlife Trusts, our members and other environmental organisations is a welcome step forward – but there’s still more to be done.

In July, the Government tabled amendments which add nature safeguards to Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

The new amendments are an improvement to the Bill and will reduce the risk that Part 3 of the Bill will provide cover for widescale damage to wild spaces and species.

Thank you to everyone who joined our campaign, by either signing our open letter calling for nature safeguards, sent to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), or emailing their MP asking for Part 3 to be withdrawn. Changes like this happen because of you. Your voice matters.

We will continue to work to improve the Bill for wildlife - both to address the ongoing risks of Part 3 and to add new measures for nature in the rest of the Bill, including better protections for chalk stream habitats.

Nature or development? Let's have both – if it’s done right.

All you need to know about the Planning and Infrastructure Bill

How you can help:

Want development to work in harmony with nature? There’s no time to lose!

We’re demanding Ministers scrap Part Three of the Bill, which is the section that would weaken protections for wildlife. And you can help!

Why not use our 'letter to the editor' tool to raise awareness of the potential impacts of the Bill in your local newspaper.

Send a letter to the Editor of your local newspaper today

What is Norfolk Wildlife Trust doing?

We have been working with The Wildlife Trusts nationally to submit evidence and make recommendations to the committee reviewing the Bill, to try and make nature’s voice heard in the decision-making.

We also sent a briefing to all of Norfolk’s MPs, asking for their support during the committee discussions which took place from 22 April – 22 May.

We are calling for four amendments to be made to the Bill:

· Prioritise avoiding harm: Developers must prioritise avoiding environmental damage before relying on mitigation schemes, with harm to protected sites only permitted for overriding public interest.

· Base decisions on science: New protected features should only be added when clear scientific evidence supports the effectiveness of strategic approaches.

· Guarantee upfront benefits: Environmental improvements must be delivered upfront, especially for irreplaceable or significant damage, with a clear and transparent improvement plan.

· Ensure “Net Gain for nature: Strengthen the improvement test to require definite, measurable, and significant benefits, rather than just probable improvements.

We are also pushing for the Government to improve protections for chalk streams, local wildlife sites and create wildbelts, to protect land that is supporting nature’s recovery.

The committee submitted a draft of the Bill to the government to review but unfortunately the Bill was passed at Report Stage without any of our amendments, so it now progresses to The Lords. We will continue to work with members of the House of Lords to try to make sure that the crucial protections for nature which are so desperately needed are included within the Bill.

Our open letter to Angela Rayner

We sent an open letter to Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to ask that our government create a Bill that will help recover nature so that everyone can benefit from a flourishing natural world.

22,000 people signed it nationally, including thousands from the Eastern Region, adding their voices to the "nature vs development" debate.