Housing Secretary Steve Reed has issued a direct instruction to Labour MPs, urging them to vote down an amendment designed to protect British wildlife when the government's contentious planning bill returns to the House of Commons.
The Controversial Planning Bill Amendment
The amendment, which secured a substantial majority in the House of Lords, seeks to restrict the most controversial element of the draft legislation. It aims to remove specific protected species and rare habitats from new rules that would allow developers to bypass established environmental laws to accelerate house building.
Under the proposed legislation, developers would be permitted to pay into a new national "nature recovery fund" and proceed with construction immediately. This represents a significant departure from the current process, which mandates environmental surveys and requires developers to first avoid, then mitigate, damage to wildlife before any work begins.
The Lords' amendment would limit the use of this fund to impacts from air and water pollution, thereby maintaining the existing legal requirement for developers to take standard measures to prevent damage to wildlife and habitats.
Ecological Backlash and Political Pressure
The government's approach has been met with fierce criticism from ecological experts and major nature charities, who label it a regression on decades-old environmental law. The scheme has been dubbed a "cash to trash" model by its detractors.
In a letter to MPs, a coalition of leading charities, including the Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB, argued that the rollback of environmental protections "lacks any rigorous scientific or ecological justification." They highlighted the absence of credible evidence that paying into a fund can effectively replace direct mitigation efforts for species like dormice, badgers, hedgehogs, otters, and nightingales, and for habitats such as ancient woodlands and wetlands.
Further scrutiny emerged this week with revelations that Chancellor Rachel Reeves and housing minister Matthew Pennycook have held numerous meetings with developers over the past year concerning the bill. Notably, Reeves has not met with a single environmental organisation or the body for professional ecologists, while Pennycook has had just four meetings with such groups compared to 16 with leading developers.
The Final Vote and Government's Stance
The bill is scheduled for its final stages in the Commons on Thursday, where MPs will decide whether to accept or reject the Lords' amendment. Steve Reed has formally recommended its rejection.
A spokesperson for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government defended the government's position, stating: "The planning and infrastructure bill will remove barriers to building vital new homes and infrastructure" and that the amendment is an "unnecessary limit" on the benefits of the nature restoration fund. They added that existing safeguards in the legislation would ensure environmental delivery plans are effective.
This sets the stage for a significant parliamentary clash, pitting the government's drive for new homes against longstanding commitments to protect the UK's natural heritage.
