The government is putting pressure on wildlife organisations to drop their opposition to its planning bill, the Guardian has learned.<\/p>\n
Some of Britain\u2019s biggest nature charities including the RSPB, Wildlife Trusts and the National Trust say the legislation risks widespread destruction of nature. The charities want a key section of the legislation, part 3, scrapped entirely because they say it is a \u201clicence to kill nature\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n Leading figures from the organisations were summoned by the government to a meeting last Friday where officials put forward nine amendments to the language of the bill, which they say offer greater environmental protections. In return for accepting these, ministers want the nature groups to stop their campaign, the Guardian has established from several sources.<\/p>\n Angela Rayner, the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, has had a statement supporting the bill prepared for the charities to sign, which says: \u201cThese amendments will provide confidence that our reforms will truly deliver for nature and help us recover our most precious sites and species as we work to get Britain building.\u201d<\/p>\n Peers will debate scrapping part 3 when the bill goes before them on Thursday in the House of Lords.<\/p>\n One participant in the meeting said their organisation \u201cwill take some persuading\u201d.<\/p>\n Another source from a charity said: \u201cThere is a lot of pressure. There is this deal trying to be struck by Angela Rayner\u2019s department, essentially so that we go quiet, or even better that we back the bill. But at the moment what\u2019s been offered in the meetings is not enough for us; we are not convinced.\u201d<\/p>\n The environmental charities summoned to the meetings \u2013 the RSPB<\/a>, National Trust, Wildlife Trusts, and Wildlife and Countryside Link \u2013 have 8 million members between them.<\/p>\n Some members are concerned at the nature of the proposed deal and the methods being used. One source said: \u201cThey cannot make deals in backrooms like this, [the NGOs] have to come to us with this. There is a great deal of unease around this. We are not going to stop campaigning against this bill.\u201d<\/p>\n As yet there has been no agreement from the NGOs to either sign the statement or stop their campaigns.<\/p>\n Richard Benwell, the CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, confirmed that the groups were talking to the government. He said: \u201cAs it stands, the bill skews the scales much too far away from the crucial safeguards nature needs. We hope ministers make the significant and wide-ranging amendments needed to reset the balance for nature and ensure that the planning system gives strong protection to vulnerable habitats and species and contributes to nature recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n The bill has been deemed a \u201cregression\u201d of environmental law<\/a> by the chair of the government\u2019s own watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection, and two independent legal opinions. It would allow developers to sidestep current environmental law and build without assessing the damage to protected wildlife and habitats, as long as they pay a levy into a central nature recovery fund.<\/p>\n The Guardian has revealed<\/a> that more than 5,000 of England\u2019s most precious protected sites are at high risk of being destroyed by development as a result, according to legal analysis.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n The planet’s most important stories. Get all the week’s environment news – the good, the bad and the essential<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The planning bill is central to the government\u2019s promise to build 1.5m homes and 150 major infrastructure projects in this parliament. Rhetoric from Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Rayner has pitted nature as a blocker to development. But the government\u2019s own impact assessment<\/a> states there is almost no evidence for this claim.<\/p>\n