Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the speech entitled PM remarks on the fundamental reform of the British state, published on 13 March 2025, on what evidential basis the Prime Minister said that jumping spiders stopped the development of an entire new town.

The Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) at the Swanscombe Peninsula was designated in 2021 due to the presence of a number of rare plant, bird and invertebrate species, including the rare Distinguished Jumping Spider. The SSSI includes a significant area of land that had been purchased by the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation to bring forward an important part of the new Garden City at Ebbsfleet.

As a consequence of the designation and the need to comply with National Planning Policy on SSSI’s the Development Corporation took the decision to re-masterplan the area leading to the loss of approximately 1,300 new homes and some 30,000sqm of commercial development.

The Ebbsfleet Development Corporation continues to progress its plans for c15,000 new homes and facilities across its wider development area.