Member

Finally, amendment 40 is absolutely crucial. It seeks to limit environmental delivery plans to the areas where we have the strongest strategic understanding that environmental benefit can be generated and would eliminate the risk of destruction of irreplaceable species and habitats of site-loyal species. We need a nuanced approach here, and amendment 40 would provide that. It recognises that for some factors, such as air quality and water quality, a catchment or area-wide approach could be sensible and helpful, instead of having a blanket approach to establishing EDPs, with everything we talked about at great length in Committee—the lack of safeguards, the lack of initial assessment of what is going on and the ability for developers to have a “get out of jail free” card with paying into those things when they claim it is not possible because of viability, all of which are significant problems. Amendment 40 would take a more precautionary approach to the application of EDPs.