Before the Election, the Labour Party promised voters that they would protect and restore nature. Now, just over a year into power, the Government's planning reforms are set to significantly weaken  environmental protections around housebuilding and development.

This is bad news for wildlife, and bad news for people.  

On the 17th July, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill moved onto the next stage of its progression through Parliament, the House of Lords Committee Stage. 

Despite it’s bold claims that it is a ‘win-win for development and for nature’, Part III of the bill would remove three strategic principles that have long played their part to protect nature from unchecked development. The ‘precautionary principle’, which means don’t destroy something until you know what’s there.  The ‘mitigation hierarchy’, which prioritises avoiding an impact if you can, rather than just paying to compensate for it, and the ‘polluter pays’ principle will also be undermined, because all developers will pay into the fund for every development  meaning there is no financial incentive for developments good for nature. You can read more about our concerns here. 

At previous stages, whilst in the House of Commons, we have worked with other Wildlife Trusts around the country to encourage people to ask their MP to intervene. 

Thank you to everyone who joined in as over 90,000 messages have been sent nationally to MPs and the UK Government!  

Why is this stage so important? 

Unlike in the House of Commons, the Committee Stage in the House of Lords requires every clause of the bill to be agreed and all suggested amendments have to be considered. The government also cannot restrict the subjects under discussion or impose a time limit. 

This means that members of the House of Lords will undertake a detailed, line by line examination of all the separate parts of a bill, and the critical amendments that have already been tabled will be fully considered. The amendments that we are supportive of include ones to delete Part III, by Baroness Jones and Lord Roborough, and to protect and enhance chalk streams, by the Bishop of Norwich with Conservative support. 

The Government has also tabled an amendment to Part III of the bill which adds in new safeguards informed by Office for Environmental Protection recommendations. This is a step in the right direction but still does not go far enough. We remain concerned by the bill and will continue to call for Part III to be removed so more time can be taken to get such a substantial change to our planning system right for wildlife and for people.

The House of Lords will now have two sessions before the summer recess (22nd July 2025 – 1st September 2025), with the bulk of debates held in September.

What more are we doing? 

At Yorkshire Wildlife Trust we will be keeping a close eye on developments in the House of Lords and are in active dialogue with key Yorkshire based members to encourage their support for the amendments critical to protecting Yorkshire’s wildlife. 

We are active participants in the existing planning system, ensuring wildlife gets a say in planning decisions. We are not anti-development, but pro good development, providing comment on applications that could affect Yorkshire’s wildlife, and only objecting in the most serious of cases. 

We are also committed to making the system on Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) work in Yorkshire by providing landowners and other stakeholders with the knowledge and advice they need, whether that be guidance on how BNG works, practical support, or help to unlocking different income streams.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust work to enable nature’s recovery, from landscape scale projects such as Wild Ingleborough, to managing our Nature Reserves, to giving you the tools to support wildlife at home with our Wildlife Gardening Hub.

We will continue to update supporters on the progress of this Bill, and the different ways you can continue to play your part. If you want to receive updates on how you could help to giving Yorkshire’s Wildlife a voice, you can become a member here.