Member

There has been a concerted effort from lobbyists and private interests to scapegoat nature as the chief villain of the housing crisis. In my view, that is just not true. The Government’s own impact assessment provided no data saying that environmental protections are a blocker. Nature is sadly being scapegoated to distract from a broken, developer-led house building model that has allowed a few to get rich, while failing to deliver the homes that people need. If developers do not use the planning permissions that they already have, they should lose those permissions, and we should make that clear. Ancient woodlands are not a blocker, wildlife is not a hindrance, and chalk streams are not anti-growth.