Hope for badgers as Lords vote for amendment in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Lords voted on amendments yesterday to prevent badgers being eligible for environmental delivery plans (EDPs) in the new planning bill.

Badger Trust joins other nature NGOs to express profound hope as Lords have voted in favour of Amendment 130 of the planning and infrastructure bill, which, if passed, would prevent badgers, habitats and other protected species being included in EDPs. 

As currently drafted, the planning and infrastructure bill would allow badgers to be killed or relocated, as well as their setts disturbed, for the purpose of development. EDPs would allow developers to pay into a Nature Restoration Fund (NRF), in exchange for destroying wildlife and habitats, with the promise of replacing species or habitats elsewhere. 

Badger Trust have joined other eNGOs to express deep concern over the bill and oppose these changes, arguing that the idea of EDPs and the NFR are fundamentally incompatible with many protected species ecology. Furthermore, the bill would for the first time allow the killing of badgers solely for the purpose of development under an EDP. 

This new amendment, proposed by Baroness Willis of Summertown, would limit the use of EDPs to nutrient neutrality, water quality, water resource or, air quality. The members stated that the amendment would seek to “limit the application of an EDP to issues where approaches at a strategic landscape scale will be effective.”

“Members Statement: This amendment seeks to limit the application of an EDP to issues where approaches at a strategic landscape scale will be effective.”

Lords voted yesterday in favour of this amendment with 260 peers voting for, and only 141 against, showing the public that peers understand the evidence and know that the current iteration of the Bill would not deliver the ‘win-win’ for nature and development it promised. 

Now, the bill will return to the House of Commons for MPs to vote on, and Badger Trust urges them to vote in favour of retaining Amendment 130 and protecting iconic British wildlife species and habitats. 

We encourage all our supporters to write to their MP and ask them to support this amendment. 

Act now - Write to your MP and ask them to support Amendment 130

✍️  Write to your MP using our template to ask them to support Amendment 130. 

📖  Read Why Writing to Your MP Matters – And Why You Should Do It Today. 

🦡  Join the campaign or donate to help us fight the Bill