Member

The Minister acknowledged in his speech that many organisations and leaders devoted to protecting nature, such as the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust and, I believe, the chief executive of the RSPB, Beccy Speight, are deeply concerned by the way Ministers have characterised measures to address the nature emergency as blockers to development. The Minister disputed that, so it is disappointing that the Government have not accepted new clause 9, which would have had the modest goal of encouraging swift bricks and other measures for wildlife in new developments. I hope he will also reconsider new clause 1, which sets out the Government’s principal commitment to take all reasonable steps to avoid adverse environmental effects, and I urge the Government to accept new clause 17, which would ensure a fairer level of community benefit for new energy infrastructure projects.