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Laws protecting nature not ‘growth blockers’

26th March 2026

Letter published by the West Sussex County Times, 26 March 2026

Dear Sir,

Laws protecting nature not ‘growth blockers’

Under the headline ‘MP leads call to strengthen nature recovery protections’ you report (WSCT 12March) that during a debate in Parliament (3rd March) on environmental protections and biodiversity trends, Horsham MP John Milne’s warned that proposed changes to biodiversity net gain (BNG) policy ‘could’ undermine nature recovery across England.

These damaging changes to BNG policy and the removal of existing protections for wildlife and habitats are being made by the Government at the behest of developers.

Contrary to the Government’s misunderstanding, extant regulations and policies protecting wildlife and habitats are not growth blockers, and their application and enforcement is not responsible for the under delivery of housing and related infrastructure.

Research undertaken by the Institute for Public Policy Research (Strategic Planning for Green Prosperity, February 2025) found that:

“Developers have secured planning permission for over 1.4 million homes since 2007 but have not gone on to build them. Common reasons for this include developers wanting to increase land value before selling it on, and land banking to slow building rates and maintain high house prices”.

“While many blame the planning system, significant non-planning related barriers exist in the delivery of house building, such as developers slowing their build rates or securing permission and then not building. Additionally, the failure to join up key infrastructure projects for development is also slowing the delivery of new homes and economic growth”.

Unfortunately, Government ministers neither recognise nor acknowledge that nature, and the biodiversity that underpins it, ultimately sustains our economies, livelihoods and well-being, and so our decisions must take into account the true value of the goods and services we derive from it, including natural capital and ecosystem services (The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review, 2021).

What say Sussex’s MPs?

Yours faithfully,

Dr R.F. Smith

Trustee, CPRE Sussex

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