Philip Box

Policy and Advocacy. Personal views and tweets mostly on the environment and heritage.

[Inside Housing @insidehousing]

Charities warn brownfield-first housing push risks creating ‘ecological deserts’ in poorer areas https://t.co/TTAlarYAtH #ukhousing

[Chris Hinchliff MP @CHinchliffMP]

Access to nature is a class issue.

When developers push for lower standards it deepens inequality and it's the poorest who pay.

A Labour government shouldn't be making life greyer and less healthy for these communities.

Nature belongs to all of us - not just the richest.

[Danica Priest🦇🦎🦇🦎🍃💚🍃 @DanicaPriest]

Nature is not a luxury it’s a need, and our poorest communities are being effected the hardest. 4/5 applications in deprived areas will lose all nature compensation if Labours plans pass. Fighting for nature is a social justice issue. https://t.co/NRj3mLaWo5

[Wildlife and Countryside Link @WCL_News]

🚨 England's poorest communities risk losing out on the trees, green spaces and wildlife they need most.

New research for Wildlife & Countryside Link shows that proposed Biodiversity Net Gain exemptions could disproportionately affect deprived communities, where access to nature is already limited.

From de minimis loopholes to proposed 0.2ha and brownfield exemptions, the areas with the least greenery stand to lose the most.

This is not the route to good, sustainable development or proud, thriving communities. People deserve homes surrounded by trees, nature and healthy green spaces.

The Government should strengthen Biodiversity Net Gain, not weaken it.

Read the report: https://t.co/S451CMdu1h

[Wildlife and Countryside Link @WCL_News]

New Government plans for Biodiversity Net Gain are out, and there is some progress:

We welcome:
✅ the confirmation that Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects are happening
✅ the removal of self/custom build exemptions
✅ the exemption for nature recovery projects

But we’re worried:
⚠ that a new 0.2ha threshold could cut BNG demand by 12%
⚠ that there will be more exemptions for brownfield and temporary developments
⚠ there's continued uncertainty around key details

Stacking exemptions onto a flagship nature policy risks weakening it and if de minimis loophole isn't addressed, the stability of the system is at risk.

Nature recovery needs more ambition, not less.

📢 Have your say by responding to the consultation: https://t.co/6JwDWiIZfc

[SOS Whitstable @SOSWhitstable]

Is there anybody who doesn't want public ownership now? Other than those with conflicted interests, of course.

Sign the petition, we're nearly at 300k: https://t.co/QXLPJyn7re

[Landscape Institute @talklandscape]

We joined almost 60 other leading figures and institutions across the natural environment sector in endorsing a letter to the UK Government addressing the hostile rhetoric towards nature protections.

Read the full statement now 📖 https://t.co/sxND4iq5EH

#landscapearchitecture

[Wildlife and Countryside Link @WCL_News]

Biodiversity Net Gain is meant to protect nature.

But right now, developers can skip it by ticking a box and writing a belief – not providing evidence.

No proof. No checks. No fixes for nature.

That’s the de minimis loophole – and it needs to go.

Read more here: https://t.co/GS7XM3YD8q

[Landscape Institute @talklandscape]

Last week, the LI co-signed a letter from the CIEEM to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which raises serious concerns over the misuse of the de minimis exemption within the #BNG framework.

Read the letter now 📖 https://t.co/6TA5Ey4dDn

[Wildlife and Countryside Link @WCL_News]

Biodiversity net gain (BNG) is a critical policy for securing nature’s recovery.

[D Dunlop LancsWT (Policy & Advocacy) @lawt_d]

Biodiversity Net Gain at a crossroads: any consultation must close loopholes, not create new ones https://t.co/GiigKtuBev

[Matt Browne @MattRCBrowne]

What’s behind the increasingly shrill calls to disregard nature protections?

A peek behind the curtain at the illusionists peddling nature destruction as a public good:

https://t.co/eoG02zINRM

[Hannah Bourne-Taylor @birdshannah]

impressive letter entitled 'Letter on concerns regarding the removal of BNG requirements for small sites' - the signatory list should make the government think twice - it is PAGES long! But will it? And what will happen if this letter's ask is ignored?
https://t.co/laiionNOKl

[Wildlife and Countryside Link @WCL_News]

Biodiversity Net Gain is one of the key mechanisms through which the Environment Act is currently being delivered in practice.

Lawyers have raised concerns about how any regressive changes to BNG would sit alongside:
🌿 statutory nature targets
🌿 international biodiversity commitments
🌿 and principles of lawful consultation

Legal certainty matters – not just for nature, but for everyone relying on the framework to plan, invest, and deliver.

[Craig Bennett @CraigBennett3]

BY ME in yesterday's @Daily_Express

@Keir_Starmer is plunging us towards a nightmare before Christmas – one thing will stop it

https://t.co/f59q9t02xb

[Rupert Read 🌍 🔥 @GreenRupertRead]

It’s time to voice an ugly truth:
I’ve been talking recently {privately} with ecologists, with very senior figures in the environmental NGOs, with activists and lawyers. What they say - privately - is stark:
>This Govt is even worse on nature than the Sunak & Johnson Govts<.
The best comparator is with the Truss regime, with its #attackonnature.
But Truss lasted less long than a lettuce. We are stuck with this lot til 2029.
Whether it’s Aarhus, habitats, planning, Starmer’s proposed bonfire of regulations, and on and on and on, both the rhetoric and the reality of Labour on nature are simply dire.
Why? Because, just like Truss, they will sacrifice anything for a smidgeon of potential ‘growth’. And because there is no care at all for nature in their dna. They will throw anything under the bus for some possible short-term human material benefit.
Never mind that humans NEED nature too! They don’t seem aware of that.
…
Please repost to express your agreement.

[Philip Box @PhilipRBox]

@DanicaPriest I'm glad someone spotted it! 😊

[Wildlife and Countryside Link @WCL_News]

📢 Over 80 conservation organisations, land-managers and rural businesses have written to Government to warn that exempting sub-0.5 ha sites from BNG would remove 97% of planning applications from the UK’s only national nature compliance market.

If the market collapses: private investment in habitat creation stalls, rural jobs are threatened and nature recovery is compromised.

Ministers must not shatter the system just as it’s beginning to thrive.

Read more 👉 https://t.co/SiOYeAW0jZ

[Hannah Bourne-Taylor @birdshannah]

Labour has betrayed our birds &amp; ignored us.They’re digging the 🪦 of swifts in the greatest environment betrayal in a generation. Don’t let them get away with it. They put a 3 line whip on a simple brick! What sort of greedy monkey builders are they listening to? Please share.

[Hannah Bourne-Taylor @birdshannah]

The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries on 🌍 yet a 🧱is too much of a stretch for Labour to save our swifts.This symbolic 🎥 is for those who care that the existence of swifts is on the line.I hate campaigning but I’ll never give up on the birds.If you care,share🙏