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28
May
Local wildlife charity accuses government of betraying nature
The wildlife charity that owns sites in Ripon and Staveley has accused the government of breaking its promises to nature in new legislation.
Labour claims the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will simplify the planning system and speed up its bid to build 1.5 million homes during this parliamentary term.
But Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and the RSPB said the Bill will “rip the heart out of environmental protections” by stripping away rules that protect habitats.
They claim even currently highly protected areas such as Yorkshire moorlands could be affected, and that developers could fulfil commitments to improve nature in other counties rather than where homes are built.
In the jointly published report Planning & Development: nature isn’t the problem, the organisations argue nature protections do not block growth.
The trusts, whose sites include Ripon City Wetlands, Staveley Nature Reserve and Burton Leonard Lime Quarries, also commissioned a poll that found just 26% of adults believe the government is taking the nature crisis seriously enough, and only 24% think ministers are listening to local people in planning decisions.
Rachael Bice, chief executive of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said:
We must do better to design development that enable humans to live alongside the wildlife we have left, not evict it. Pitching development against nature is wildly unhelpful and nature as the blocker is not supported by evidence.
RSPB chief executive Beccy Speight said it had engaged with the government in good faith but it was “now clear that the Bill in its current form will rip the heart out of environmental protections and risks sending nature further into freefall”.
She added:
Some of our most significantly protected places most at risk are near our most populated areas enriching everyday lives and boosting growth from tourism, attracting people to the incredible landscape and wild gems of Yorkshire.
The government said the Bill was central to its plans to ‘get Britain building again’.
It added:
The Bill will speed up and streamline the delivery of new homes and critical infrastructure, supporting delivery of the government’s Plan for Change milestones of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England and fast-tracking 150 planning decisions on major economic infrastructure projects by the end of this parliament. It will also support delivery of the government’s Clean Power 2030 target by ensuring that key clean energy projects are built as quickly as possible.
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