Nature Restoration Fund & Skiing Ecology

Hello, everyone! Just a quick note to say that this will be our last newsletter of the year. We are taking a two-week break over Christmas, and will be back in 2025. Thanks to everyone who has read and supported us over the last 12 months; we couldn't do it without you. Hope you all have a lovely festive season! -Sophie

National news

Planning | Labour has released a planning reform working paper, outlining how it intends to accelerate house building while also protecting nature. At the heart of the proposal is a new Nature Restoration Fund. The idea is to streamline the building process by allowing developers to pay into a central fund, allowing them to start building immediately, rather than having to undertake site-specific assessments and plan mitigation action themselves. The sum of money will be calculated and then distributed by a delivery body, most likely Natural England, into nature restoration projects across the country. Writing in the Sunday Times, environment secretary Steve Reed and housing secretary Angela Rayner said that the reforms would deliver ‘on our plan for change, while protecting the natural environment we all depend on.’ For some useful analysis of the risks and benefits of this approach, see this thread by Richard Benwell of Wildlife and Countryside Link. The Times covered the news.