Lords amend planning bill to include protections for wild animals, including bird-safe glass and swift bricks

Hedgehog highways and bird-safe glass could become requirements for all new buildings as members of the House of Lords push through amendments to the government’s planning bill.

This may cause a headache for ministers, who have tried to avoid burdening developers with laws on nature measures such as “swift bricks”. The new Lords amendments include mandated provision for these nesting boxes, which campaigners say are crucial for the survival of the threatened species.

A cross-bench group of peers has tabled amendments to ensure new buildings must have wild animal-friendly design and architecture, including hedgehog highways and bird nesting boxes.

  • Brave Little Hitachi Wand@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    26 days ago

    They must know that the real way to get the entire nation to adopt new building standards is with taxes. The glass tax is long gone but we still have wonky windows.

  • Moubliepas@feddit.ukEnglish
    1·
    26 days ago

    We’ve got hedgehog gates in 2 corners of our garden, and I assume the neighbours have too.

    The houses must be at least 30 years old (and can’t have been state of the art even then), and to be honest I assumed it was more for the benefits of the numerous cats who seem to have the run of the land.

    It was a good incentive to get the garden planted up, as bare earth draws cats from a 10 mile radius in search of an public toilet, but apart from that I can’t see any reason to dislike them (unless you have a small dog, that could be a problem. Or a cat allergy. Or a small child, I suppose, but who does that nowadays).