Badgers still under threat despite government’s Planning Bill Amendments

The government has announced amendments to the Planning & Infrastructure Bill, but badgers' lives are still under threat.

Badger Trust, alongside other leading NGOs, has been in talks with the government seeking critical amendments to the proposed Planning and Infrastructure Bill. As a result, the government has proposed a series of amendments they claim will strengthen safeguards for nature in the Bill. 

However, whilst some look positive, none address our primary and urgent concern: the weakening of the Protection of Badgers Act. These amendments would still permit the killing of badgers and the destruction of their setts for development or in the interest of ‘overriding public interest’ an undefined term, destined to be problematic and contentious.

Even the positive-sounding amendments turn out not to be legally binding on the Government, so nature organisations and we suspect Ministers, have once again been misled. 

"My first key point is that none of the proposed concessions by the Government has any meaningful legal effect. Second, and most importantly, there is no mitigation hierarchy. Without this, and the legal protection of species or our rarest and irreplaceable habitats, this is a ‘cash to trash’ law that will surely accelerate environmental destruction, with no guarantee that compensation will be delivered at all." - Alex Culver, Legal Counsel

None of the amendments will prevent bulldozers from destroying the habitats or the badgers, bats, birds, or any other wild animals that call them home, and there will certainly be no requirement to save them. 

Whilst some of the proposed amendments suggest a positive step towards improving the Bill for nature, none of the proposed amendments address our primary and urgent concern: the weakening of the Protection of Badgers Act. As a result, Badger Trust has not signed up to support these amendments. 

Badger Trust Chief Executive Nigel Palmer said:

“We cannot support the government's request to back the amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill while the killing of Badgers is made significantly easier as a result of the weakened protections included in the new Bill that weaken the Protection of Badgers Act.

We will never agree to proposals that reduce Badgers' legal protections, which remain critical given the threats they face, including those posed by this government's Planning and Infrastructure Bill."

Badger Trust will continue to lobby and campaign relentlessly for the removal of the amendments to the Protection of Badgers Act in both the Lords and the House of Commons. Badgers are not a blocker to development, as all of the Government’s own evidence shows, and their protection is non-negotiable for the British public.

Badgers need your help now. Every badger is under imminent threat of being killed and their setts bulldozed to make way for development. 

This is a situation that demands immediate national action.

Take Action: 

• Join Badger Trust and help support our national campaign

• Join your local badger group and get active locally

• Write to your MP; Every email counts. The more messages they receive on a single issue, the harder it is for them to ignore it. MPs and Lords will decide the outcome of this bill; they must know that badgers are not collateral damage. 

Together, we can stand firm to defend their right to exist, protect their ancient homes and the hard-fought, vital legal protections they depend on. Let's be a powerful voice for Badgers. 

Visit our website now; Badgers cannot wait.