The new UK government is planning to embark on the biggest homes and infrastructure building project since WWII. If the Government gets these new rules wrong, we risk a future where the divide between our communities and our wild places becomes even more stark. And iconic British species from swifts to dormice, dolphins to otters, will find themselves without homes. Nature needs the new planning rules to be Wilder By Design and for them to deliver communities, landscapes and seas which help support wildlife recovery, climate resilience and improve our health and wellbeing. We need our wild places to be bigger, better and more joined up. We need new rules to make this happen and more resources for overstretched planning authorities to deliver them. That’s why we and our partners at The Wildlife Trusts, Woodland Trust, RSPB, Rivers Trust and Friends of the Earth are calling on the Prime Minister and Secretary of State to include our Wilder By Design asks in the upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill. We want to see:

A ‘greenprint’ for nature’s recovery: 

Commitments in law are needed to boost nature by:

• Following repeated recommendations to improve the protected site network by creating more, and improving existing, protected nature sites (with stronger powers and resources for nature for National Park and National Landscape Authorities).
• Requiring Local Authorities to align their local plans with Local Nature Recovery Strategies, including detailing new ‘Wildbelt’ sites in their areas.
• Banning the most damaging fishing and industrial activities in all Marine Protected Areas.

Wilder neighbourhoods:

Too often nature is an afterthought in new homes and infrastructure development, so new planning laws should ensure that:

• Nature-friendly features like swift bricks, bat boxes, hedgehog corridors, native plants and sustainable drainage are required in all appropriate new buildings and projects
• Rules are enforced to ensure developments don’t harm irreplaceable wildlife and plans are in place on how projects will increase biodiversity before they start
  

Planning ahead to protect nature:

• A new National Spatial Plan would help Government to strategically plan ahead to protect the most important wild places and find the most appropriate development sites for communities and nature.
  
  

For more information about the Wilder By Design Campaign, please contact Nick Hawkes (nick@wcl.org.uk)

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