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Let's get England's planning system working for people and nature.
Get England's planning system working for people and nature.
How could England’s planning reforms impact on nature?
We review the latest announcements and look at why nature must be at the heart of decision-making.
Posted 5 min read
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The UK Government has made it clear that growing the economy and getting the UK building are high on their agenda. To do this, they are looking to reform the planning system to drive investment and delivery in new infrastructure and business, and they have promised to build 1.5 million new houses by 2029.
At the end of 2024, we saw a flurry of announcements, proposals and speeches which gave some indication of where the Government’s upcoming planning reforms might be headed. Here’s our take on what’s been said:
Rhetoric versus reality
The beginning of December 2024 saw Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer take aim at the planning system, framing forthcoming planning reforms in the polarising language of ‘builders’ and ‘blockers’.
In practice, the forthcoming changes present an important opportunity to reform the system so that it delivers for nature and people, and underpins healthy, happy communities and sustainable long-term growth. Designed well, a reformed planning system can deliver nature-friendly homes, drive the clean energy transition, and protect and restore nature.
Behind the rhetoric, the UK Government has made a positive commitment to not rolling back existing environmental protections. We will hold them to that. But, with the UK’s nature suffering serious continued declines, standing still is not enough.
The need to protect nature
We need a nature-friendly planning system that not only protects our most valuable places for nature, but also turbo-charges nature restoration and supports those who can drive positive action, from Natural England to local authority environmental and planning teams.
Local authorities and watchdogs like Natural England are overstretched and underfunded, with too few planning officers and environment officers – which is adding to planning delays. It’s not the bats and other wildlife delaying planning – it’s a lack of budget and clarity in planning rules and systems. There have been repeated reviews of wildlife legislation across successive governments and each review has concluded that it is the implementation, not the legislation itself that is the issue.
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So what’s on the table?
National Planning Policy Framework
The revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) – published just before Christmas 2024 – was an early indicator of the Government’s thinking. As expected, we saw a heavy emphasis on housing delivery, including on degraded parts of the Green Belt.
Positively, we didn’t see any erosion of polices relating to nature. In fact, an emphasis on nature-friendly building features for species such as Swifts and Hedgehogs marked a mild strengthening of nature policies. Overall, however, the framework lacked ambition and missed the opportunity to really drive nature’s recovery through planning.
Planning Reform Working Paper
The Planning Reform Working Paper on development and nature restoration, also published just before Christmas, presented a more ambitious set of proposals.
We can see that the Government is seeking to respond to our previous calls to adopt a strategic approach to planning and to recover more developer funding for investment in nature recovery. The work now is to make sure they genuinely deliver for nature.
The proposals set out a new ‘strategic’ approach to unblock stalled planning processes. In some circumstances, developers would pay into a new Nature Recovery Fund that would support wider environmental improvements. For example, funds from developments could be used to invest in wetlands which would in turn tackle water pollution.
But, the approach would also reduce requirements for on-site ecological assessment, amend the Habitats Regulations and move to a new form of reporting (called the Environmental Outcomes Report). These all ring alarm bells and there’s currently little detail on which to judge how these proposals might work in practice.
However, we are encouraged by recent Government moves to listen to those that champion nature’s interests. Together with other environmental organisations, we are hoping to work closely with the Government on where the proposals go next.
What would we like to see?
These positive steps need to be echoed by senior members of the Government, and there are three things that the UK Government can do now to build trust and confidence:
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Rule out the allowance of any damage from new development to irreplaceable habitats and designated sites for nature protection.
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Increase the funding for Natural England and local authority environmental and planning teams ahead of the legislation, and ensure proper systems for monitoring the impact of the approach.
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Focus on dialogue and consensus by ending the divisive rhetoric and work with us on solutions that deliver for nature, people and the economy.
There are plenty more proposals in the pipeline too, including speeding up the application process for major infrastructure projects; strategic planning for clean energy; and the introduction of a new Land Use Framework.
The scale of these changes presents a rare opportunity to transition to a genuinely nature-friendly planning system that meets the challenges of the nature and climate crisis.
How you can help
With so much change on the horizon, it’s critical that the newly emerging planning system delivers for nature and not at its cost. We need a system that’s good for people, good for communities and good for growth.
Nature-friendly planning reforms could be huge for our wildlife – but only if nature is at the heart of the UK Government’s plans. We must continue to speak up in support of nature.
Help us get England’s planning system working for people and nature by writing to your MP today.
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