Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to strengthen regulations to prevent developers and landowners putting netting on hedgerows.

Wild birds are protected by law and therefore any development project must consider the impact on local wildlife and take precautionary action to protect their habitats. The revised National Planning Policy Framework is clear that planning policies and decisions should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by minimising the impacts on and providing net gains for biodiversity. The Government has announced plans to require developers to deliver biodiversity net gain through the forthcoming Environment Bill. This will mean habitats for wildlife must be left in a measurably better state than they were before any development.