Get ready for a new environmental battle royale. To kickstart our flagging economy, Rachel Reeves is said to be preparing an onslaught against protected species in order to accelerate infrastructure building.
The chancellor is going beyond what has previously been proposed, in pursuit of her “further and faster” economic growth agenda. She wants to tear up European regulations which developers blame for slowing construction projects. Already, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which is wending its way through parliament, will allow builders to bypass existing controls by paying into a nature restoration fund to improve habitats on other sites.
