The government aims to speed up planning consent for new housing, energy infrastructure and other developments through its Planning and Infrastructure Bill, now out for consultation.

It will replace Environmental Impact Assessments, used since the 1980s, with Environmental Outcome Reports, intended to be simpler and clearer, saving time and money, whilst still protecting the environment. However, this does not come without risks.

Currently, to gain planning consent, Environmental Impact Assessments assess the potential impacts of a development on the natural habitats and species present. The site must be surveyed, and if any protected species will be destroyed by a development, the developer must make provision for them.

Under the new Bill, these assessments will be replaced by Environmental Outcome Reports that are more standardised, focusing on achieving pre-defined environmental outcomes. Critically, rather than protecting rare habitats and species at the development site, developers will be able to meet their environmental obligations by paying into a Nature Restoration Fund that will be used by Natural England to implement environmental improvements.

Wildlife groups warn that this marks a significant break with current environmental law that harm should be avoided wherever possible and always where damage would be irreparable. They believe that the new law could weaken protections for wildlife.

The RSPB, National Trust, Wildlife Trusts and others are calling on MPs to reinstate the legal duty to avoid harm to protected wildlife wherever possible. They say that planning reforms should ensure that the benefits for nature of any new development significantly outweigh the harm caused by development. And planning decisions should help to deliver the UK’s legally binding climate and nature targets.

A YouGov poll commissioned by the groups reveals widespread public support for this view; 71% of the public supports increased planning protections for green and blue spaces, including fields, woods, parks, national parks, rivers, lakes and streams.

Despite public concern, wildlife is still in sharp decline. Data released by the government just this week shows that bird species in England have declined by 7% in just five years, since 2018. Turtle doves have decreased by 54% in the UK over the past five years

Interestingly, more people are members of just one wildlife organisation, the RSPB, than all the political parties put together. So Chancellor Rachel Reeves is out of step with public sentiment when she says we need to “focus on getting things built, and stop worrying about the bats and the newts”.

Certain species, like bats and newts, are often impacted by planning decisions because they live in and near to buildings. Bats roost in attics and roof spaces, meaning extensions and demolitions will impact them, and newts live in ponds that are disturbed by construction works for new infrastructure.

Strong environmental regulations have been hard won over decades by people who care about nature. Today most people want to see nature decline halted and reversed. Reforms to the planning system must maintain robust environmental protections and prioritise nature recovery.