The Planning and Infrastructure Bill (the Bill) was presented by the government to address perceived challenges in relation to housebuilding and nature recovery. Analysis of the Bill flagged serious concerns that the legislation weakened wildlife and habitat protection by removing key safeguards in current legislation.

The government claims the Bill seeks to reduce costs and delays to developers but is likely to do the opposite by increasing confusion and uncertainty while also creating a two-tier system of legislation.

However, the ongoing and short-sighted rhetoric framing bats, newts and other wildlife as blockers of development has continued to circulate. There have even been suggestions that the government might be considering further weakening of wildlife protection.

Advocating for the protection of bats under this continued attack is causing a significant drain on our resources, and this will increase over the coming months. We urgently need to raise £15,000 by the end of 2025. Please donate towards supporting this important aspect of our work. Every donation, big or small, counts.

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