Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring swift nesting bricks to be installed in newly built homes.
We have always been clear that planning is a local matter and it is for each local planning authority to assess how it will deliver the Government's environmental goals, alongside our ambition to deliver the identified housing needs of their communities.
As we have set out previously, we of course welcome action by individual developers who wish to provide swift bricks and the benefits are set out in our Planning Practice Guidance on the Natural Environment. Local authorities can prioritise specific species such as swifts.