In a shake-up of England’s planning rules, Labour will insist that new builds are fitted with nature-friendly features such as swift bricks, hollow nesting boxes for the bird species that fit into walls.
The Chancellor has railed against “green tape” holding back the economy, saying that businesses should be able to “focus on getting things built and stop worrying about the bats and the newts”.
Earlier this year, she complained that “absolutely insane” environmental regulation had become a “barrier” to investment, pointing to the £100 million spent on a ‘bat tunnel’ as part of HS2.
However, the Government has now announced that it will introduce rules, designed to protect endangered species, for new builds.
The measures are included in its proposed overhaul of England’s national planning policy framework (NPPF), hailed as the “biggest rewrite” of the planning rulebook in a decade.
Labour said the reforms would help to hit its target of building 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament.
Among the “key revisions” listed on Tuesday was the statement: “New builds to include nature-friendly features, such as installing swift bricks to support wildlife – adding little to building costs whilst delivering a win-win for nature and housebuilding.”
Swifts nest in nooks and crannies in Britain’s buildings. Once a common sight in English skies, their numbers are now declining, placing them on the UK’s red list for birds.
A lack of nesting sites is thought to be one reason behind a falling population, as well as reduced food supplies because of a drop in the number of insects available to eat.
It is understood the bricks will be treated as a requirement for new homes, with developers expected to include them unless there are compelling technical reasons preventing their use or making them ineffective.
Worth reading in full.
Dr. Will Jones is Editor of the Daily Sceptic. He has a PhD in political philosophy, an MA in ethics, a BSc in mathematics and a diploma in theology. This article was first published HERE
6 comments:
I have birds regularly fly into my living room windows and about half die instantly.
Fortunately, none of them have been native.
My neighborhood has many Kererus, Tui, Pīwakawaka, Tauhou and Morepork (although never see those owls just hear their calls at night).
Quite happy for any introduced species to cull themselves off but would be very concerned if my house was harming natives.
Why are native birds better? The current fashion for indigeneity knows no bounds. Listen up birdies: don’t be born a sparrow, blackbird, thrush or starling. As for aging white folks, well they’re farming us now in villages and compounds. They keep us alive for profit. Ain't life great! ;-)
Re anonymous 10:41
Most introduced species have a negative impact upon the environment into which they were introduced.
NZ has a long and disastrous history in this domain, and you would have to be both willfully blind and illiterate not to acknowledge the problem.
This is not a "fashion", and you are best to keep your racist / ageist bigotry to yourself.
If anything, Anon 1041 is drawing attention to the systemic racism and sexism that marxofascism has brought about against White men. Not sure where the ageism fits in - except where White men are at the receiving end of it.
Oh dear - must have upset Forest and Bird. They do tend to take things so terribly seriously. People should really get out of the way. Birds and especially native birds are far more important. Humans and all other birds and creatures should vacate all the beaches and forests and let the poor wee dotterels and all the other wonderful native birds live and breed freely. No predators, no disturbances. A perfect habitat must be achieved. Kind of net zero-zero harm nirvana for native birds. Yes, I am being facetious. On purpose. I must be the most terrible human being. Merry Christmas.
I guess we better not mention the amount of bats and birds including native birds killed by wind farms , we must have clean energy at all costs
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