prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves argue that current nature rules have gone too far, often citing the \u00a3100m\u00a0HS2 bat tunnel<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n\n ![\"Prime]()
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer (Image: Press Association)\n<\/p>\n
\n The draft legislation, if passed, would instead allow developers to make general environmental improvements and pay into a nature restoration fund that improves habitats on other sites.\n<\/p>\n
\n But charities, including\u00a0The Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB, are warning\u00a0protection will be reduced for irreplaceable habitats such as chalk streams and ancient woodland.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n ![\"Eliot]()
Eliot Lyne (Image: Danielle Booden)\n<\/p>\n
\n Eliot Lyne, Norfolk Wildlife Trust chief executive, said:<\/strong> \u201cIt would be a travesty if our government were to drive this damaging legislation blindly through – against the will of the communities they represent and, alarmingly, against all logic.\n<\/p>\n\n “Over 148,000 Labour voters in Norfolk have been betrayed, and the fate of our most important places for nature and the laws that protect them are all at risk.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n “Walks in Norfolk’s ancient woodlands, time alongside our crystal-clear chalk streams, the peaceful vistas offered by our heaths and saltmarshes and the sound of the dawn chorus \u2013 it\u2019s these natural wonders that delight people all over the county, bring visitors to Norfolk and support our physical and mental health – that are under threat.”\n<\/p>\n
\n ![\"A]()
A visitor to Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Cley and Salthouse Marshes (Image: Phil Barnes Photography)\n<\/p>\n
\n The charities\u00a0say their research shows\u00a0nature does not block economic growth, with bats and great crested newts a factor in just 3pc of planning appeal decisions.\n<\/p>\n
\n They have been calling for amendments and for part of the nature recovery section to be removed from the bill.\n<\/p>\n
\n A government spokesperson said: “We completely reject these claims. The government has inherited a failing system that has delayed new homes and infrastructure while doing nothing for nature\u2019s recovery, and we are determined to fix this through our Plan for Change.\n<\/p>\n
\n “That\u2019s why our Planning and Infrastructure Bill will deliver a win-win for the economy and nature by unblocking building and economic growth, and delivering meaningful environmental improvements.”\n<\/p>\n
\n ![\"A]()
A barbastelle bat (Image: Wikimedia Commons)\n<\/p>\n
\n Conservative-run Norfolk County Council previously\u00a0criticised government advisor Natural England\u00a0following its opposition to the Norwich Western Link<\/a>, because of the presence of protected barbastelle bats on the route.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of nature reserves, rivers, coastal areas and broads will no longer get the same protections from development,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[728,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-148566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114606244026978276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}