7 days ago
EXCLUSIVE Get Britain building ... ponds: Angela Rayner urged to use planning reform to cut red tape on small lakes to help wildlife and combat flooding
is being urged to use Labour's reform of the planning system to make it easier to dig ponds to help ease the impact of flooding and create more havens for wildlife.
Tory MP Rebecca Smith wants the Deputy Prime Minister's plan to cut red tape around construction to include the rules governing the creation of new bodies of water.
Currently, because they often involve excavating earth to create a depression the creation of new ponds can be deemed engineering work or even mining activity that requires planning permission, she argues.
The South West Devon MP has tabled an amendment to Ms Rayner's Planning and Infrastructure Bill that would give new water bodies with a surface area of less than 0.2 hectares - around a third of a football pitch - 'presumed consent'.
She told MailOnline: 'Where there is water, there is life. Ponds are a fantastic habitat for wildlife, like the common toad and blue-tailed damselfly.
'As well as breathing life into local landscapes, they protect communities from flooding by storing up the excess water during heavy rainfall.
'For too long, new ponds have been bogged down in unnecessary red tape because, somewhat bizarrely, removing the earth to create them can count as engineering or even mining.
'If you are a farmer or land owner who wants to nurture local wildlife and fight flooding, you should not have to navigate the planning in order to do the right thing.'
Earlier this week, an analysis from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the Met Office warned that northern Europe could see some very wet winters over the next five years, which is one of the key climate hazards for the region, bringing with it the risk of flooding.
Her push has been backed by experts including the Freshwater Habitats Trust.
Its CEO, Professor Jeremy Biggs, said: 'By creating new ponds, we can add clean water to the landscape, protecting our threatened water plants and animals.
'Extending permitted development to cover the creation of wildlife ponds would speed up this vital work, and help us to restore freshwater habitats across the country.'
The Government has set out proposals to cut red tape and for planning decisions to be shifted away from councillors and towards expert officers as part of efforts to meet Labour's pledge to build 1.5 million homes by 2029-30.
Trained planning officers rather than committees of elected councillors will be responsible for deciding on developments of up to nine homes under the plans, as well as most minor and technical applications.
The Government is considering 'streamlining' requirements on biodiversity net gain including the option of a full exemption for those minor developments.
Housing Secretary Ms Rayner rejected that she was compromising green protections to get homes built, telling broadcasters: 'No, we're simplifying the process for houses if there's under 10 houses built, and between 10 and 49.
'So we're going to simplify that process. We're going to put more expert planners on that process as well, but we won't be compromising on nature,' she said during a visit to new housing development visit near Didcot, Oxfordshire.
Kitty Thompson, head of campaigns at the Conservative Environment Network, added: 'Ponds are an effective tool for boosting biodiversity and building climate resilience on our land. Yet creating them can be needlessly difficult under current planning rules.
'That's why this amendment is so important. It removes unnecessary red tape, empowering farmers and landowners to create new habitats for our wildlife and providing vital natural storage for water during periods of heavy rain.
'Giving ponds permitted development rights is a small change that can have a big impact for nature recovery and flood alleviation across the country.
