Developers not delivering on promised nature-friendly features, research finds
Developers not delivering on promised nature-friendly features: Research by the University of Sheffield has revealed that almost half of nature-friendly features such as trees and bird boxes haven’t been fulfilled by the developers of new homes in England. The features are legally binding pledges, that help boost wildlife when building new properties.
As part of the research, the academics from the University of Sheffield visited 42 completed housing estates in England to check if nature enhancements, such as trees, bird boxes, ponds and hedgerows had been supplied to the developers, as stated in the planning permissions. However, only 53% had been delivered.
Further findings highlighted that 39% of trees detailed on the planting plans were either missing or dead, almost half of the native hedges promised didn’t exist and over half of the planned wet grassland hadn’t been made. Other unfulfilled features to support local wildlife include missing hedgehog highways (83% not provided) and bird and bat boxes (three quarters missing). Researchers could find no evidence at all of bug boxes which had been detailed in development plans.
It wasn’t just the lack of delivery by the housing developers, it was also the lack of quality when they had been delivered. Nearly six in ten of the wildflower grasslands were found to be sown incorrectly or damaged, leading to less insects or other small creatures being present in that area and fewer flowers being there.
Kiera Chapman, leader of the report from the University of Sheffield, said: “Our research has shown that developers are not only delivering poor outcomes for wildlife, but also for people. When it comes to priorities, this is not an either/or situation: humans need healthy green spaces to flourish. Our report shows that the protections on which the government is relying to deliver biodiversity gains are not working in practice, so that their push for 1.5m homes is likely to cause significant harms to nature.”
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