Land Use Planning

Chair: Rebecca Pullinger, The Wildlife Trusts

Vice Chair: Carl Bunnage, RSPB

Link: Philip Box, Senior Policy Officer

Update from the group:

Link's Land Use Planning Group will continue to highlight how planning can make a positive contribution to nature's recovery, rather than perpetuating the sustained habitat loss seen over recent decades.

The LUPG has been advocating for robust BNG regulations and guidance ahead of mandatory implementation. The group wrote to Minister Harrison in Autumn 2023, ahead of the confirmation of the delay to mandatory BNG to January 2024. Most recently, Link published a report on local ambition and progress on delivering Biodiversity Net Gain.

Recently, the LUPG has recently published the 'Planning Ahead' report, which sets out the proposals needed to ensure the planning system delivers for nature alongside the scale and pace of renewables infrastructure needed to meet net zero.

The LUPG will aim to ensure the forthcoming planning reforms and the Planning and Infrastructure Bill do not undermine nature protections and include the policies needed to recover nature.

For further information, contact Philip Box, Link's Senior Policy Officer.

Last updated: 09 June 2025