Since March, key Government figures have sought to present a false choice between nature and growth. We have been told that spiders have blocked towns, and that bats and newts have single-handedly halted the UK’s development. So not rising climate impacts, austerity, or crumbling public services?
This battle over nature is being waged through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, the Government’s flagship solution to ‘growth’. Since the Bill was first published, Zero Hour has consistently called for Part Three – where nature is effectively reduced to a ‘cash-to-trash’ scheme – to be paused or scrapped. Yet, even with so many Labour MPs championing the environment, the Government has pushed on with an iron fist, even kicking Chris Hinchliff out of the party for speaking out.
They have sought to paint reasonable concerns, like the risk of destruction of key ecosystems – that underpin our economy, health, and very existence – as nimbyism, mere noise from the ‘blockers’. Yet we now know that these very planning laws were born out of breakfasts with corporate lobbyists, not communities.
These reforms are being pushed through in a desperate bid to please CEOs, in the hope that it will deliver some kind of growth. But growth for whom? Does Rachel Reeves not see that the experiment of trickle-down economics has failed? It has only driven more inequality across our economy, not prosperity in our communities.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill has already passed through the House of Commons, but it is still under debate in the House of Lords. If you, like us, are deeply concerned about what this Bill means for our fragile natural world, read on to find out how you can make your voice heard.
We have created a template email to be sent to Peers in the House of Lords that are playing key roles in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Want to help?
(This will only work if you have a default email account connected to your device.)
1. Click any of the buttons below to automatically create an email to a Peer.
2. Add your name at the bottom of the email and send it.
3. Repeat if you’d like to contact multiple Peers.
If you don’t have a default email account, simply copy the email text below and send it manually to any of the listed Peers. Remember to include both their name and your name.
EMAIL BARONESS WILLS OF SUMMERTON EMAIL BARONESS GRENDER
EMAIL BARONESS COFFEY EMAIL BARONESS FREEMAN OF STEVENTON
EMAIL LORD FULLER EMAIL LORD WHITTY
IF YOU HAVE ISSUES WITH ACTION BUTTONS ABOVE, COPY THE EMAIL BELOW.
Baroness Wills of Summerton – [email protected]
Baroness Grender – [email protected]
Baroness Coffey – [email protected]
Baroness Freeman of Steventon – [email protected]
Lord Fuller – [email protected]
Lord Whitty – [email protected]
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EMAIL DRAFT
I am writing to you ahead of the report stage of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill with deep concerns and to ask you to support vital changes to the Bill.
This Bill risks selling off nature and vital ecosystems in the pursuit of growth, allowing developers, as some have put it, to pay ‘cash to trash’ the natural world – with no guarantee that the money raised will be spent on restoring nature.
We all recognise that growth and increasing the housing stock are important goals for the Government, and my concerns should not be seen as an attack on these aims. Yet the evidence is clear. Nature is not standing in the way of growth, and if it is allowed to be destroyed, the knock-on effects will far outweigh any supposed (and contested) short-term gains in development speed.
The Labour Government pledged in its 2024 manifesto that it would not weaken environmental protections, yet these reforms tell a different story. The lack of consultation, democratic mandate, impact assessment or due process for this Bill, together with the Henry VIII powers set out within it, which allow any act or law to be changed to meet its objectives without full parliamentary debate, show a disregard for Parliament’s proper role in scrutinising major legal changes.
I urge you to stand up for our natural world during the report stage and to speak in support of Lord Roborough’s amendments which leave out each of the clauses of Part 3, namely, marshalled amendments 123, 126, 139, 142, 143, 150, 154, 155, 158, 159, 161 – 163, 165, 170, 171, 172, 173, 178 – 189, 191, 192, 193, 195 and 196. In place of Part 3, we should support sensible laws to deal with nutrient pollution, in line with Lord Roborough’s amendment number 201.
No other amendments tabled protect against the ‘cash to trash’ laws of Part 3. It is vital that air, water and biodiversity are not irreversibly polluted and destroyed in return for financial payments.
Without these amendments, the Government’s wholesale reforms create a permanent legal route to further regression without parliamentary scrutiny, and by design undermine the vital ecosystems that underpin our economy, health and very existence. I hope you will be able to support these critical amendments.
Yours sincerely,
