Planning reforms will ‘avoid bat tunnels’, says minister

The Government has said its changes to planning rules should ‘avoid’ expensive environmental measures such as the £100 million ‘bat tunnel’ that HS2 was required to build (Jacob King/PA) - (PA Archive)

Landmark planning reforms unveiled on Tuesday will “avoid bat tunnels” that have added to the cost of major projects, a minister said.

Described by the Government as introducing “seismic reforms”, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is expected to overhaul how developers meet their environmental obligations, replacing site-specific schemes with a fund for larger projects.