Planning for Nature

Our preliminary analysis shows that the reforms will make a wilder future impossible...

The planning system is a key aspect of protecting our green spaces and enabling wildlife to thrive. With the UK currently one of the worst places on the planet for wildlife, reform is urgently needed. But proposed reforms for the system in England have us concerned they'll make a bad situation much worse: failing nature, people, and local democracy. 

Stand up for nature

The impact of development on wildlife

Development should not come at the expense of our natural environment. All development, be it housing, commercial or infrastructure must be designed and delivered in a way that contributes to nature’s recovery, not its decline.

How to respond to a planning application

Planning for development and nature

The Government is undertaking the biggest drive for housebuilding in 70 years, with the infrastructure needed to support this. This could cause huge damage to wildlife and wild places. We are seeing the loss of irreplaceable ancient woodlands, wildflower meadows, wetlands and other rare habitats due to development happening in the wrong place. Schemes to protect rare species are often ineffective and wildlife becomes restricted to increasingly fragmented areas. At the same time, people living in urban areas are increasingly cut off from the natural world, to the detriment of their health and wellbeing. But this does not need to happen. We need to plan for nature in the same way that we plan for built development.