Calling Batman - superhero needed

As the ecosystem of professionals working across environment, sustainability and climate is being destroyed in the USA at the swipe of the President’s pen, in the UK we have a parallel scenario being played out against wildlife in the form of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (PIB), now being debated in Parliament. 

Big hitters including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, five of Canada’s biggest banks, Macquarie in Australia and most recently the Japanese agri-bank Norinchukin have left the alliance, citing concerns about political backlash from the Trump administration, and the potential for ESG-related litigation. 

 

However, the rogue we are dealing with in the UK is not a gigantic global financial institution – the villainous fiend being awarded almost pantomime baddie status by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (boo! hiss!) is actually species Chiroptera, common name bat. These charming creatures, long protected in the UK in recognition of the fragility of the species, has got it coming to them. Infrastructure development in the UK has been going through a very difficult patch, mostly due to a combination of extreme inertia in the planning system coupled with the explosion of costs associated with anything that has government procurement attached to it. HS2, the infamous hi-speed rail line originally planned to connect Manchester to London with initial estimates of £32.7 billion in 2012 has now reached figures of around £66 billion for the London to Birmingham phase, and potentially £100 billion or more for the entire project. The Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project in Somerset, originally estimated at £18 billion and originally scheduled for completion in 2017, has faced significant delays and cost overruns, with EDF now estimating the project could cost up to £46 billion and be completed by 2031. The solution to this endless cycle of cost escalation? Get the bats! 

 

And it seems that HS2 has catalysed this reaction, with arguments swirling around the now infamous “bat tunnel” – a complete misnomer by the way. The popular myth is that a separate tunnel has to be built alongside the rail line, which has been quoted as requiring a £100million budget. This has come about thanks to the proposed route of the HS2 in Buckinghamshire, some 65 miles northwest of London, impinging on ancient woodland at the very northerly edge of the natural range of the species in question. Sheephouse Wood is the habitat of a large a colony of Bechstein's bats, a rare and protected species. Without intervention, it will be same place same time for both fast trains and bats which could lead to a local extinction. 

 

Whilst the structure designed for the purpose – more of a futuristic barn than anything resembling a tunnel – might seem to be costly, studies in the Americas have shown that the bats’ insect-devouring talent is equivalent to saving 7-10% of crop yield. Hence the cost of the proposed building to protect the bats is negligible compared to the costs to the economy of losing up to 10% of agricultural crops every year if the bats have gone. The presumption is that bats (or newts, jumping spiders or anything that gets in the way of the bulldozers) are what is holding Britain back. The solution to this problem is being addressed in the Planning & Infrastructure Bill. In essence, the rationale seems to be to throw out all previous checks and balances developed over decades of experience, deregulate and we can build baby build. 

 

The ramifications for nature are exceptionally severe. For 70 years the UK has protected its rare and, in some cases, unique wildlife, aiming to ensure that development and conservation are in harmony. Laws like the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) and the Environment Act (2012) saw the UK leading the world in legislating to protect nature and ecosystems. 

 

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill puts the previous decades of building safely around species at risk. It has generated deep concerns voiced by numerous ecologists and world-renowned experts, together with a groundswell of fear from nature lovers and country dwellers throughout the land. The new draft law will actively harm wildlife, will fundamentally weaken environmental laws, and ironically will create uncertainty and ambiguity for developers resulting in slowing down their progress. 

 

The new Nature Restoration Levy the bill brings in is essentially a standardised tax on development, masquerading as a benefit for the environment and an acceleration lever for housebuilders. They will pay into a fund managed by Natural England to offset the environmental impact of their projects. Natural England would then create Environmental Development Plans (EDPs) outlining conservation measures for areas affected by development.This removes the current requirement for thorough site assessments, replacing them with far less robust alternatives to solutions we already have. The result is highly likely to risk losing rare species without knowing they exist. It removes three fundamental legislative principles; firstly the ‘precautionary principle’ - don’t destroy something until you know what you’re dealing with. Secondly, the ‘mitigation hierarchy’ - avoid creating an impact wherever possible (rather than just paying to compensate for it and losing something irreplaceable). Thirdly, the ‘polluter pays’ principle will disappear completely, because all developments will pay into the fund. 

 

It replaces clearly articulated enforceable regulation with nebulous promises of "improvement." As for governance, Natural England, the agency responsible for wildlife protection, would both create the conservation plans and assess whether they are successful - a blatant example of marking your own homework. And there could be unintended consequences - the UK could potentially find itself in contravention of international trade agreements. 

 

Despite all the bluster and bullying about bats and newts, the instances when they actually stop development are rare. The huge delays and seemingly unbreakable torpor in the system are almost always due to planning. UK planning applications that are supposed to be turned around in two weeks regularly take months if not years, stuck in a painfully slow process held back by Local Planning Authorities with little or no resources, together with infrastructure governance chaos, broken supply chains and the building companies’ profit margins. 

 

The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. This Planning and Infrastructure Bill hasn’t been labelled a “licence to kill” for nothing.