The Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) has published a response to the UK Government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill 2025, alongside an amendments briefing following the First Reading.
A CIEEM spokesperson said, “As we have previously highlighted, the core principle behind the Bill – identifying environmental challenges early and addressing them proactively through state-led intervention – could, in theory, be a positive step towards the government’s twin goals of streamlined delivery of critical development and better outcomes for nature.
“However, the execution of this concept is critically flawed. As currently drafted, the Bill threatens to cause unnecessary and irreparable ecological harm while simultaneously imposing additional costs, uncertainty and delays on developers due to the uncertainty around the nature and scope of the proposed Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs).
“The proposed Bill, whilst containing some important principles which would be of benefit to both the economy and the environment, is currently significantly flawed and needs an urgent rethink. In our view, the Bill is a regression on current levels of environmental protections.”
CIEEM’s initial briefing paper, published on 18th March, notes that a “broad consensus of concern raised by a wide range of environmental professionals, professional bodies, NGOs, learned societies and developers in response to the Planning Reform Working Paper have been entirely disregarded in the Bill drafting process.”
The paper says that no meaningful inclusions have been made to address the significant issues identified environmental experts.
Furthermore, the paper says that “Whilst the Bill effectively overrides the need for Habitats Regulations Assessments, European Protected Species Licenses, consideration of Wildlife and Countryside Act species protections and Badgers Act protections, the Bill is unclear on how the process interfaces with the Environmental Impact Assessment process nor with the public body biodiversity duty. This creates further uncertainty for ecological practitioners, for developers and local planning authorities (LPA).”
CIEEM says that it would welcome the opportunity to work with the government and other stakeholders to improve the Bill such that it can deliver the multiple benefits it is being designed for.
Read the CIEEM comment on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill 2025 (March 2025)
Read CIEEM’s Amendments Briefing for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (April 2025)