Having raised concerns throughout the Act’s passage about its potential impact on nature, The Wildlife Trusts have interrogated the EDP and what it means for the environment. Read the full analysis.
Matthew Browne, head of public affairs at The Wildlife Trusts, said:
“In a time of stark nature loss, The Planning and Infrastructure Act’s approach to environmental protection – substitution rather than an avoidance of harm – could set us on a dangerous path towards further environmental decline. With developers now required to show weaker, more generalised ‘overall improvements’, the Act has opened the door to environmental harm being allegedly cancelled out by wider benefits. As a result, this first Starmer-legacy Environmental Delivery Plan (EDP) risks being just as we and others warned: specific and significant harms being traded for general, speculative benefits.
“For example, under the EDP for Norfolk, phosphorus pollution from new homes will increase existing pollution levels on the rivers Yare, Brue and Wensum - a delicate chalk stream – without sufficient direct action from developers to mitigate for the impact. Even minor increases could be enough to tip the health of these rivers over the edge, with calamitous consequences for the Norfolk Broads. Wider nature recovery benefits proposed in the plan, such as improved deer management, are welcome, but they will not tackle this pollution threat to rivers.
“The Wildlife Trusts will be responding robustly to this EDP consultation and making the case for a much greater focus on pollution reduction so that new developments do not cause further harm to our beleaguered waterways. As the very first test of how EDPs and The Planning and Infrastructure Act will work in practice, we must ask the critical questions needed to ensure we get this right for nature, climate and people.”