Dorset Wildlife Trust is deeply concerned by the UK Government’s current Planning and Infrastructure Bill, legislation that threatens to dismantle decades of hard-won environmental protections and place some of Dorset’s most treasured wild places at risk.

Nature isn’t the problem. Yet this Bill, particularly the so-called “Nature Recovery” section, falsely paints our precious wildlife and habitats as obstacles to progress. In truth, new research from The Wildlife Trusts shows that protected species like bats and great crested newts were involved in just 3% of planning appeal decisions in 2024. Natural England itself reports that 99% of planning applications proceed after finding ways to accommodate nature. The evidence is clear, development and nature can, and do, coexist.

And yet, instead of strengthening the foundations of sustainable planning, the Government is choosing to weaken them. Part 3 of the Bill, misleadingly titled “Nature Recovery,” would actually replace robust environmental protections with vague and delayed promises. The Office for Environmental Protection has declared that this would cause “environmental regression” rolling back laws that have protected ancient woodlands, chalk streams, and vulnerable species for many years.

Here in Dorset, that could mean significant consequences for habitats we hold dear: the delicate heathlands of Purbeck, Dorset’s chalk streams, and the internationally important wetlands of the Poole Harbour catchment. These landscapes are more than scenic backdrops, they are the habitats of otters, dormice, birds and butterflies, and they provide essential services like clean water, carbon storage, and flood protection.

A poll commissioned by The Wildlife Trusts reveals that the public is with us. Only 26% of UK adults believe the Government is taking the nature crisis seriously. Just a quarter would support local developments if they came at the expense of the environment. People want homes, yes, but not at the cost of destroying the very fabric of the natural world around them.

Despite repeated efforts by The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, and other partners to work constructively with Government. proposing practical amendments to retain strong safeguards and ensure development still benefits from and supports nature recovery, all suggestions have been ignored. Instead, harmful amendments have been introduced that allow nature compensation to take place miles away from the site of damage, cut communities off from local green spaces, and delay mitigation efforts by up to a decade.

This flies in the face of promises made by the government before the last General Election: to halt species decline by 2030, protect 30% of land for nature by the same year, and expand nature-rich habitats such as wetlands, woodlands, and peat bogs. These commitments inspired hope, but the Planning Bill, as it stands, betrays that trust.

We at Dorset Wildlife Trust, along with our partners across the nature conservation movement, are calling for the complete removal of Part 3 from the Planning Bill. True nature recovery doesn’t come from hollow words or weakened laws, it requires ambition, integrity, and accountability. Dorset’s landscapes are too precious and its wildlife too vulnerable, to be collateral damage in the name of misguided growth and development.

We want to be clear: we are not anti-development. We support building well-designed homes in the right places, where nature is enhanced rather than erased and believe that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill should be an opportunity to promote sustainable development that benefits the natural environment and people. Our vision is for a county where new developments enable green infrastructure and access to nature and where planning policy truly reflects the value of nature in our lives.

This Bill is a crossroads moment. Dorset, and indeed the whole country, deserves better. Join us in standing up for our wild places before they’re gone.

Help us fix the Planning and Infrastructure Bill now! 

Email your MP with your concerns.