Labour's planning bill is a major threat that puts wildlife in peril

The Government is pushing through changes to the planning system that put wildlife in peril.

British wildlife is protected by some of the world's best nature laws. Our laws defend dormice, otters, and the large blue butterfly. They safeguard chalk streams, peatlands and wildflower meadows. If you live near a protected wildlife site, infrastructure developers can't simply come along and bulldoze whatever they find.

Changes under the Planning and Infrastructure Bill mean in some areas developers would just pay a fee - a Nature Restoration Levy - then wash their hands of wildlife. Their job is done. The idea is the levy pays for nature enhancements elsewhere.

There is some logic behind it. Sometimes, you can do more for nature by pooling funds and working at a bigger scale. Government wants an "overall improvement", so the money pays for more wildlife. But that's not much comfort if it's the wildlife on your doorstep in the firing line. Wildlife could be destroyed today, with benefits up to a decade later at the opposite end of the country.

To make matters worse, in a legislative vanishing trick, the Bill would magic away legal and scientific safeguards and replace them with political opinion. That's dangerous when science shows you can't simply replace irreplaceable habitats or vulnerable species.

The threat sounds abstract compared with the chainsaw that chopped the Sycamore Gap tree, or the trolley dumped in your local river, but it's hugely important. These changes uproot decades of legal protection, putting nature that has taken millennia to develop under the axe. If you care about iconic wildlife or protected ecosystems, this Bill is a threat.

You can understand why politicians are conflicted. UK politics is slavishly focused on the kind of economic growth that developers bring in spades, and the drive to build homes is a huge challenge. Yet, somehow, when the threats to nature are nearby, the message that we can't go on destroying nature comes home to people and politicians alike.

The good news is that the planning system can be improved so greener development happens faster, at the same time as restoring nature. We want a Bill that guarantees that nature won't be sold short for development, follows the science and avoids harm to irreplaceable wildlife, and ensures nature today can't be traded away for distant promises.

Get that right, and the politicians can grow the economy and our natural world in one.

Richard Benwell is chief executive of Wildlife and Countryside Link