Planners reiterate research showing poor delivery of ecological mitigation

The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has published a summary report of the Wild Justice report Lost Nature.

Lost Nature was published in December 2024 and highlights that developers are “installing just half of the ecological features that they should be” based on a survey of nearly 6000 houses across 42 developments. The report says that many ecological enhancements had simply not materialised, with 83% of Hedgehog highways, 100% of bug boxes, and 75% of both bat and bird boxes missing from new developments. The delivery of plant life was also disappointing, with 39% of the trees detailed on planting plans missing or dead, and nearly half of the native hedges that were supposed to be laid did not exist.

The RTPI report – Are developers in England delivering ecological enhancements required by planning permissions? – says that urgent action is needed to ensure that the planning system better protects biodiversity, with the following recommendations:

• Central government should ensure adequate resources are in place to operate the increasingly important post-consent planning process, especially for enforcement/compliance teams.
• Central government should put in place procedures to ensure that ecological enhancements on new housing estates are adopted and managed by local authorities and over the long-term.
• Local authorities should set out plans to resource post-consent planning processes, ensure that conditions are worded clearly, and provide all plans and documents that comprise the consented scheme in one easy-to-access location.