Land use planning policy: planning for nature

Planning policy shapes the world around us. It can be a vital tool in helping us to protect nature and wildlife when considering any new development such as for housing, retail or business.

The RSPB works to influence how planning policy is set by Westminster Government and to ensure it leads to sustainable developments that protect nature and supports its recovery. 

The English planning system has been subject to much change over recent years and more is proposed. The RSPB is working to ensure that any changes introduced are wildlife-friendly and support the recovery of nature from on-going decline.

The planning system is one of the most important tools for driving nature’s recovery while also meeting development needs. However, continual changes to the planning system have left it poorly equipped to fulfil this vital purpose.

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Making space for nature and wildlife in any new development has never been more important. The Planning Naturally report sets out the 12 key principles for planning sustainably and inspires with examples of good practice from all four countries of the UK as well as internationally.

It was created by the RSPB in partnership with Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, and the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).

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To enable nature’s recovery, a strong system of environmental assessment needs to remain at the core of our planning system. While the current system is fundamentally robust, we believe that its implementation should be refined to ensure biodiversity is not traded off in relation to other considerations.

We propose improvements to the implementation of the environmental assessment processes in five key areas: evidence base; strategic level environmental assessment; Environmental Impact Assessment; mitigation and compensation, and monitoring. 
 
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When tackling the joint nature and climate emergencies, it’s integral that data can be easily accessed and considered, in context, by stakeholders across sectors. At the RSPB, we have proposed a more effective and efficient platform, the Environmental Observatory, to make this possible.  
 
Currently, datasets are held across different platforms, making information fragmented and difficult to both find and to compare. As a raft of new policy has been introduced, impacting land use policy and land management, it’s essential that decisions can be made looking across all data holistically. A single platform is essential for both policy and delivery.

Read our proposal