Government cannot leave nature protections on a 'wing and a prayer'

2 May 2025

Responding to proposals for the Nature Recovery Fund under the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, shared by Defra at a media briefing on Thursday, Ali Plummer, Director of Policy & Advocacy at Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: “These are further worrying statements from Government which show that it is trading in strong nature and community planning protections on the weak promise that compensations will be made elsewhere. Leaving it on a wing and a prayer that loss of nature locally won’t be offset into potentially another county does not give the certainty and safeguards that local people and the local environment need.

A third of communities around the country already have little or no access to nature locally, contributing to the likelihood of poorer mental and physical health. Reduced local tree cover and other natural solutions also leaves communities less resilient to more extreme weather conditions as the climate changes. Urgent changes to the Planning Bill are needed to guarantee developments avoid harm wherever possible, guarantee local nature loss is more than compensated for locally, and ensure that the Nature Restoration Fund follows the science on what will work for nature and neighbourhoods.”

In April over 30 environmental groups including the National Trust, RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts wrote to Secretary of State Steve Reed and Minister Mathew Pennycook calling for the government to fix the proposed Planning Bill to ensure that it does not undo existing environmental law and further threaten nature.

In their Wilder By Design campaign, the charities have called on the government to make sure Planning Proposals: 

• Deliver a planning system that is wilder by design: Including a Local Authority duty to help meet climate and nature targets, delivering well-designed national spatial and marine plans, and requiring cost-effective nature-friendly design elements in new developments.
• Prioritise Avoiding Harm: Developers must first avoid environmental damage before relying on Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs) to provide compensation, maintaining the long-standing “mitigation hierarchy”.
• 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 with a clear and transparent improvement plan. The improvement test must also be strengthened to require definite, measurable, and significant benefits, rather than just probable improvements.