Last month, a coalition of 32 nature charities wrote to ministers to warn that a new government Bill could lead to irreversible habitat loss.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which is designed to jumpstart the economy through building, will threaten our limited safeguards for nature and stall wildlife protection.
The Bill could also affect local communities with issues such as more sewage in rivers, increased flood risk, and loss of valued woodlands.
The Liberal Democrats have a long history of promoting nature-based policy.
I was glad to sign last week a Lib Dem amendment which would require the Secretary of State for the Environment to protect biodiversity in new developments.
These include measures to enable the provision on new construction projects of bird and bat boxes, swift bricks, and hedgehog highways.
Local democracy eroded
The other casualty of the Bill could be local democracy.
The Institute for Government reported in March that the Bill proposes to direct some planning decisions solely to officials (planning officers) rather than elected councillors.
In that scenario, unelected officials would make decisions in accordance with the Local Plan, rather than a recommendation having to go before a planning committee.
This would be a key change, which risks removing a layer of democracy.
It’s essential that we retain our ability to influence planning decisions.
I have also signed a Liberal Democrat amendment that calls for planning committees to retain their current powers.
Nature is struggling more than ever, with insect and pollinator populations plummeting.
As many birds and small mammals make it onto the red list of endangered species, it is unconscionable that ministers propose to sweep away what flimsy environmental protections we have.
The tired narrative that nature is a barrier to growth must shift.
We need to work with nature, not in opposition to it, if we are to have any hope of handing on this planet to our children and grandchildren in a better condition than it is currently.
East Devon Watch 