To help nature thrive, natural habitats need to be bigger, better, and more connected. However, current planning rules mean that nature often remains an afterthought. With planning reform on the horizon we're calling on the Government to ensure that new planning policies are Wilder By Design. We need new rules to make this happen and more resources for overstretched planning authorities to deliver them.
The UK government is planning on embarking on the biggest homes and infrastructure building project since WWII and one of the biggest overhauls to the planning system for a generation. 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 well-being. 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 recently announced Planning and Infrastructure Bill. We want to see:
A plan for people and nature
Nature and climate action must be central to our planning system—not an afterthought. Goals to end nature’s decline by 2030 and tackle climate change should be guiding principles for the planning system alongside targets to build more homes and infrastructure. We need a clear national spatial plan, for land and water, and a marine spatial prioritisation plan, outlining where nature needs safeguarding and the best places to build.Protecting wildlife, creating more homes in greener communities, and building climate change and energy price resilience can be delivered hand in hand.
Don’t Bulldoze Nature’s Protections
For decades, environmental laws like the Habitats Regulations have kept our most precious wildlife and landscapes safe. New planning laws must strengthen, not weaken, these vital protections.
Go Wilder by Design
We need stronger protections for wild spaces and a planning system that helps nature thrive. That means protecting important nature sites and areas identified with high potential for nature’s recovery from inappropriate development. With new rules for developments that make communities Wilder By Design, including more bee bricks and bird boxes, sustainable drainage and native planting.
For more information about the Wilder By Design Campaign, please contact Nick Hawkes (nick@wcl.org.uk)
Membership of Wildlife and Countryside Link is open to national and international voluntary or other non-profit organisations based in England. Member organisations must be able to demonstrate an interest in furthering the work of Link, and their aims must include the protection of wildlife, landscape and the quiet enjoyment and appreciation of the countryside. Individual members of the public are not eligible to join Link, but may be interested in joining one of Link's member organisations.