Badger Trust Update on Amendment 40 to the Planning & Infrastructure Bill

Badger Trust warns of another setback for wildlife as Amendment 40 is rejected and the Planning & Infrastructure Bill passes Parliament.

The Lords' Amendment 40 to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill was not accepted, and the Bill passed both the Lords and the Commons, so it will receive Royal Assent and become law in a few weeks. 

This is disappointing news for Badgers and all British wildlife species, as well as habitats such as Chalk streams. 

Badger Trust has worked hard with our groups and supporters to engage Peers and MPs Against the odds, the government agreed that species, such as Badgers, must be surveyed not SIMPLY for ecological reasons, but because of animal welfare issues raised by the Animal Sentience Committee after we briefed them. 

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, in a Ministerial statement, pledged to provide additional assurance that EDPs will be appropriately sequenced, and the first EDPs will address nutrient pollution only.

Taking this approach SHOULD therefore provide us with a proper test case to demonstrate both the impact of EDPs and Natural England’s ability to deliver.  We will then pay particular attention to the results of the regular monitoring and reporting of these early EDPs.

"I will also commit to the Government returning to the House once the first nutrient EDPs are made to issue a statement on the initial learnings from their development and implementation. It will only be after the House has seen this statement that a Secretary of State will make any further EDPs on other environmental issues."

Badger Trust Chief Executive, Nigel Palmer, said 

Badger Trust, our groups, and supporters have worked tirelessly to engage with Peers and their MPs, and have achieved some safeguards for Badgers, which is a significant achievement given the government's large majority and determination to drive this Bill into law.

We do not believe that the statement from Baroness Taylor offers any real respite for Badgers and wildlife; it merely commits the government to updating parliament. 

This is not the time to let any setbacks deter us from our goal of protecting badgers, their setts, and the foraging grounds vital for them and other native wildlife. 

Rosie Wood, Chair at Badger Trust, said:

We didn't get everything we wanted, but we are very grateful to the DEFRA Minister, Mary Creagh CBE MP, for following up on our concerns about the Badgers Protection Act, including the need to survey for and safely relocate badgers, the increased risks of wildlife crime, and for engaging her officials with the Animal Sentience Committee to ensure that the bill does not cause unnecessary suffering to badgers. 

Ministers shouldn't have to spend time on these basic safeguards, yet these issues should have been resolved before the draft bill was presented to Parliament. 

MPs shouldn't have to spot such obvious oversights during their scrutiny of draft legislation. 

It was unedifying to see the Housing Minister hurriedly rifling through papers at the Commons committee stage, trying to understand why they proposed to weaken the Badgers Protection Act. When a minister is so unfamiliar with their own bill and its real-world consequences, it undermines confidence in both ministers and officials. 

When their department and Natural England respond to FOI enquiries claiming no evidence supports the minister's remarks, any remaining confidence quickly evaporates. 

This may have been a flagship bill for the government, but 'flagship' isn't the word most of us would use to describe it.

This is not the time to let any setbacks deter us from our goal of protecting badgers, their setts, and the foraging grounds vital for them and other native wildlife. 

We build on every success and regroup with partners to continue engaging the government and holding them to the promises made in the ministerial statement.

We build on every success and regroup with partners to continue engaging the government and holding them to the promises made in the ministerial statement.

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