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In Pursuit of Harmony:
How conservatives can restore nature and build the houses we need
The United Kingdom is one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth. Within our urban areas, iconic species such as hedgehogs, butterflies, water voles, house sparrows, and doves are rapidly decreasing in number. As we expand our built environment, undeveloped land is being built upon, reducing the available habitat for wildlife in these locations. Nature-unfriendly development is contributing to the decline in our natural environment seen across the country. If this depletion is not halted, Britain’s GDP could be reduced by almost 5% by the end of the decade, with nature-related economic risks, such as water scarcity and pollution, becoming increasingly severe.
At the same time, successive governments have overseen an historic failure to build the necessary housing and infrastructure to meet our needs. Our planning system has become synonymous with bureaucracy, complexity, delay, and expense. We now have a chronic housing shortage, with some estimating the shortfall to be as high as 6.5 million. This has led to ballooning house prices, and an economy constrained by a lack of housing, particularly in our most productive towns and cities.
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Our policy response must reflect sound conservative principles: respect for local accountability, care for the land, and an emphasis on building genuine communities. Conservatives should seek a development model which is family-friendly, nature-friendly, and nation-friendly. A model which enables home ownership, safeguards the environment, and restores pride of place; one which grows our economy and strengthens society. Unless we conservatives lead this debate, others will set the terms and neglect these priorities.
David Simmonds MP,
Shadow Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government:
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“We are the party of homeownership, but our nation is in dire need of more houses and building them is too often bogged down in disputes and delays. At the same time, we must not build soulless, concrete shoeboxes that no one wants to live in.
“Environmental regulations must be fundamentally reformed. They’re failing to restore nature whilst adding unnecessary complexity and barriers to building. Equalising on- and off-site BNG is a sensible start that would give housebuilders much-needed flexibility and confidence. It would also help to unlock a multi-billion pound new source of income for farmers and land managers, grow our economy, and restore nature to our green and pleasant land.
“Additionally, reintroducing the requirement to consider beauty in building, expanding PDRs for nature projects, and broadening the scope of on-site BNG to include gardens are welcome suggestions. They would all make it easier for housebuilders to create more beautiful neighbourhoods, bring nature back to local areas, and bring local communities on board with new housing.”
Aphra Brandreth MP:
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“Britain is losing too much of what makes it special. Nature is in decline and our precious countryside is disappearing, and overbearing red-tape is making it worse. It is time we give the British people back the ability to improve their lives as they see fit.
“Britain needs more nature and green spaces - the little things that turn houses into homes and transform isolated developments into proud communities. From façade gardens to ponds, red tape is preventing us from improving our homes and local communities.
“It is time to end the misguided laws that have infiltrated our planning system and held nature back.”
Rebecca Smith MP:
“The planning system is a mess, and it is stopping people from improving their local communities. People should be empowered to restore the environment, not restrained by unnecessary government regulations.
“We need a radical removal of red tape holding back developers, farmers, and communities from restoring nature. Permitted development rights should be expanded to include wetlands and ponds, and unnecessary barriers to creating facade gardens should be lifted.
“It is a great British instinct for people to improve their homes and communities to bring a touch of nature closer to them. It is time to declare war on the red tape blocking nature and allow the British people to improve their local environment.”