
Keir Starmer has declared war on £100m HS2 bat shed - but has he got a solution?
Has Sir Keir Starmer picked a fight with a bat tunnel that - in time - he will eventually discover he just can't win?
For the last six months, the prime minister has singled out the most hated construction site in Britain for criticism - a kilometre-long, £100m shed to protect bats in Buckinghamshire from the high speed trains of the future.
Sir Keir regularly thunders that this is the emblem of a broken planning system. His chancellor says such things will never happen again. But is their joint political sonar advanced enough to avoid a collision in the coming months?
Recent weeks have seen a slew of announcements from Number 10 to prove they are taking on the "blockers" in order to get Britain building.
But government sources conceded to Sky News they are yet to reveal a plan which would stop such structures having to be built again in future.
HS2 will continue to build this bat tunnel, due to be complete in 2027, come what may. A compromise plan - that would see developers pay into a single government-controlled pot - has left experts and industry figures unimpressed, saying it would not stop another bat tunnel.
The experts also warn that they struggle to see how the government prevents future absurd and costly structures without repealing nature and habitat laws we inherited from the EU.
To roll back on these protections would mean not only war with the environmental movement, but also breaching our trade agreement with the EU - all to get Britain building again.
There is no obvious answer, yet ministers on Monday insisted one is still coming soon.
This comes as today Sky News shows the first ever pictures of the HS2 bat tunnel, showing the scale and breath of the ten-figure development through the Buckinghamshire countryside and taken despite our request for permission to go on site by the government-owned company being declined.
By scrambling through trees and trudging through muddy public footpaths, we were able access open space close enough to the structure, to film the site in detail with a drone without crossing into HS2 land - and it makes quite the spectacle.
Three miles north west of Aylesbury, cutting through the countryside like a scar and wedged between two industrial waste incinerators, we show from the sky the roofless skeleton of the kilometre-long shed which will insulate railway tracks being built in Buckinghamshire - and protect the bats.
The aim is to stop a rare breed known as the Bechstein, which lives in an ancient woodland adjacent to the route, from hitting future high speed trains when they run from London to Birmingham.
The entire structure exists so that HS2 can comply with "The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017" - a set of regulations which protects rare species, derives from the EU Habitats Directive and remains in force in the UK to this day despite Brexit.
Although often wrongly summarised as meaning "no bat death is acceptable", regulator Natural England did advise HS2 that to comply with this law, the company would need to maintain the "favourable conservation status" for the 300 bats once construction was complete. No easy feat.
HS2 executives mulled digging a tunnel, noise-based deterrents and rerouting the line, which would slow down the High Speed trains and prove too expensive. They also looked at barriers alongside the railway or a looser netting structure over the railway - but none of these would have been guaranteed to deliver the standard of protection required by law.
But their engineers and consultants advised the cheapest, legally safest route was the shed being built today. And after four years of meetings with the local council, construction began and continues to this day.
The government's growth mission champion, Dan Tomlinson MP, who visited the bat tunnel site with Sky News, said reform is vital.
"We need to find a way to reduce the cost of infrastructure in this country. Yes, protecting our wildlife too. But if we don't do that, we won't be able to build and we won't be able to make this country grow again, which is something that's been lacking for so long," he told me.
But can they stop this in future? The government insists the answers will come in as-yet-unpublished future planning legislation and yesterday government doubled down on its ambition.
"Spending vast sums to build a 'bat tunnel' is ludicrous," said a spokesman.
"For too long, regulations have held up the building of homes and infrastructure, blocking economic growth and doing little for nature. That is why we are introducing new planning reforms and a nature restoration fund to unblock the building of homes and infrastructure and improve outcomes for our natural world. This will deliver a win-win for the economy and nature."
But a nature restoration fund may not provide all the answers, according to experts.
Under this plan, the government is proposing that developers who potentially fall foul of habitat and nature rules give money to a pot to fund delivery of wider strategic projects that help nature, rather than trying to compensate for each potential breach of the habitat regulations.
Lawyers think that the idea of a fund makes sense for groups of projects affecting exactly the same species and habitat, but the majority of problems arise where a single project creates its own issues - as is the case of HS2 and the bat tunnel.
"The concept of pooling funds for a grand compensation project which ticks the habitats regulations box for a number of projects onshore therefore seems challenging," wrote Catherine Howard from law firm Herbert Smith Freehills.
"It is certainly going to take a lot of time, effort and cost for the government or regulators to think through what sort of onshore strategic compensation might need to be put in place, and then to deliver it.
"Can decisions be made in the meantime reliant on the promise that such compensation will come forward?".
But if there isn't a compromise option which appeals to ministers, repealing or downgrading habitat and nature rules is the only option.
This, however, would be likely to put the UK in breach of a number of international treaties, including the Trade and Cooperation Agreement entered into by the UK and the European Union in April 2021 to govern post Brexit relations and maintain a "level playing field".
Pro-growth pressure group Britain Remade says while promises of stopping future bat tunnels should be applauded, "there is a real risk is that if their planning bill doesn't include changes to inherited EU law on protected sites and species, we're stuck with the worst of both worlds: a status quo that stops us building and also fails to protect the countryside".
But attempts to change those laws would cross a red line for environmental campaigners. The RSPB, which has 1.2 million members, is already sounding the alarm over the rhetoric from Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves.
Chief executive Beccy Speight told me while some parts of government are taking a "constructive" approach, her organisation would fight any attempt to water down the nature laws.
"I'm am absolutely clear that we can't go backwards in terms of the protections we already have in place for nature, because nature is on its knees and we need to do something about that," she told Sky News.
Sir Keir has made ending ludicrous bat tunnels the test of his planning reforms time after time. This could prove a much trickier issue than anyone anticipated.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Metro
an hour ago
- Metro
Here's why Keir Starmer thinks technology will actually make us 'more human'
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The UK must 'push past' the debate over whether AI will take people's jobs, Keir Starmer has said, as he argued the tech is making us more human. Businesses and industries across the country have been transformed by the technology, which can summarise vast documents and generate text or images in a matter of seconds. While workers and unions have expressed concerns over the impact of the sweeping change, the Prime Minister has embraced it. In a speech at London Tech Week this morning, Sir Keir recalled being 'really struck' by the impact AI is having on the war in Ukraine and pushing for it to be 'hardwired' into the recent Strategic Defence Review. He said: 'I've set the challenge to all of my teams: show me how they can use AI — not just in the output of government, not just in partnership with yourselves and others in the delivery of services — but also in the very way we do government.' As an example, he spoke about a social worker he met in Downing Street who told him AI is 'slashing her paperwork and her caseload'. Craig Munro breaks down Westminster chaos into easy to follow insight, walking you through what the latest policies mean to you. Sign up here. The PM said: 'She could use AI and tech to help with the parts that could be done more quickly. And from that, I've always said: AI and tech make us more human. 'It may sound like an odd thing to say, but it's true—and we need to say it. 'Because some people out there are sceptical. They worry about AI taking their jobs. But I know from audiences like this, this debate has been had many times. We need to push past it.' AI is expected to form a central part of the spending review on Wednesday, when Chancellor Rachel Reeves will outline plans for government budgets over the next few years. Departments will be encouraged to use the tech to slash costs and speed up work. More Trending But it has also played a role behind the scenes of the review. In January, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said a tool nicknamed 'HMT GPT' was being used to summarise spending bids from different departments. Following a speech on AI from the Prime Minister that same month, Unite the Union general secretary Sharon Graham called for 'proper protections from AI's pitfalls'. She said: 'The introduction of AI in the workplace must be something that happens with workers and not to workers. 'Government, employers, and unions all need to be working together to avoid the potential dangers of workplace AI.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: The 'Gate to Hell' has been open for 50 years but is finally burning out MORE: The real reason behind 'Stop Hiring Humans' ads appearing on the Tube MORE: Three men appear in court accused of arson attacks on properties linked to Keir Starmer


ITV News
2 hours ago
- ITV News
Nato chief to call on UK to spend 3.5% of GDP on defence
Life comes at you fast in Downing Street. It's only a week since the Prime Minister was dodging questions about when he would increase defence spending to 3% of GDP. Today the Nato Secretary General is in town to tell Keir Starmer that actually Britain ought to spend 3.5% by 2035. Its expected the PM will agree with the target. And we are talking big sums here. That extra 0.5% is worth north of £17bn. Put a different way our defence budget of around £60bn would have to rise to more like £100bn to meet the 3.5% which is the new Nato target. Thats an NHS scale amount of money. And it inevitably means spending cuts elsewhere or tax rises or both. There are two reasons for this. The first is Vladimir Putin, the second is Donald Trump. Putin has shown he is ready and willing to attack his European neighbours. Trump has suggested he is less willing to come to the rescue. Today it is Ukraine, tomorrow it could be Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania. That's where we come in. Those three Baltic states are all Nato members. If they are attacked we would be obliged to defend them, we would be at war with Russia; that's the Nato deal. Mark Rutte wants Nato to be big enough, tough enough and determined enough to deter Putin, to make it not worth his while to test the alliance. But Nato's 2035 target is, of course, ten years away. Many defence analysts think that it will only take Putin a couple of years after ending the Ukraine war to reconstitute his armed forces. So here's the key question; are we in a Cold War moment when the threat in Europe will not materialise, or a pre-1939 moment when it will?

Rhyl Journal
3 hours ago
- Rhyl Journal
Winter Fuel Payments details of who is eligible confirmed
The payment, worth up to £300, will return for millions this winter, the Chancellor has announced. To be eligible for the winter fuel allowance, a person will need to have reached state pension age by the week starting September 15 this year. Devolved authorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland will each receive a funding uplift so they too can meet the new threshold. Payments will be restored to the vast majority of pensioners who previously received it because anyone with an income of under £35,000 a year will now get the payment automatically Those with an income above this threshold will also receive the payment, but it will then be reclaimed from them in tax. Pensioners who do not want to receive the payment will be able to opt out, according to the Treasury. The decision to limit the winter fuel payment to only those who claimed pension credit was one of Labour's first acts in Government, aimed at balancing what was described as a £22 billion 'black hole' in the public finances. This meant the number of pensioners receiving the payment was reduced by around 10 million, from 11.4 million to 1.5 million. But Sir Keir Starmer announced there would be a partial U-turn on the policy in May, after it was thought to have contributed to Labour's drubbing in the local elections. The Treasury claims the new arrangement will cost £1.25 billion in England and Wales, while means-testing winter fuel will save the taxpayer £450 million. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: 'Targeting winter fuel payments was a tough decision but the right decision because of the inheritance we had been left by the previous government. 'It is also right that we continue to means test this payment so that it is targeted and fair, rather than restoring eligibility to everyone including the wealthiest. 'But we have now acted to expand the eligibility of the winter fuel payment so no pensioner on a lower income will miss out. NEWS. Winter Fuel Payment to be reinstated for all State Pensioners this winter, but then clawed back via tax system for all who earn over £35,000 (roughly average earnings). This is a big improvement. Full instant analysis video coming with all the details in a minute.… 'This will mean over three-quarters of pensioners receiving the payment in England and Wales later this winter.' Some two million pensioners who earn more than £35,000 will see their winter fuel payments clawed back via the taxman, the Treasury estimates. Kemi Badenoch, Leader of the Opposition, claimed the Prime Minister had 'scrambled to clear up a mess of his own making'. The Conservative leader added: 'I repeatedly challenged him to reverse his callous decision to withdraw winter fuel payments, and every time Starmer arrogantly dismissed my criticisms. hr /> Martin Lewis shares 'crucial need to know' energy bill rules 'This humiliating U-turn will come as scant comfort to the pensioners forced to choose between heating and eating last winter. The Prime Minister should now apologise for his terrible judgment.' Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey said: 'Finally the Chancellor has listened to the Liberal Democrats and the tireless campaigners in realising how disastrous this policy was, but the misery it has caused cannot be overstated. 'Countless pensioners were forced to choose between heating and eating all whilst the Government buried its head in the sand for months on end, ignoring those who were really suffering. 'We will now study the detail of this proposal closely to make sure those who need support actually get that support. The pain they went through this winter cannot be for nothing.'