Andy Burnham, set to become Prime Minister on Monday, faces mounting pressure to scrap a controversial £1 rule change that would allow developers to sidestep environmental laws. Labour has been accused of rushing through planning reforms that could permit developers to “trash” nature for as little as £1 under new environmental delivery plans (EDPs).
Celebrities and Experts Unite Against EDPs
A letter signed by more than 100 prominent figures, including BBC Springwatch and Channel 4 Celebrity Gogglebox star Chris Packham, has urged Burnham to immediately halt the rollout of EDPs. The plans enable developers to bypass existing environmental protections by paying into a national nature levy instead of mitigating harm on-site.
Alexa Culver, a planning lawyer at RSK Wilding, warned that the regulations were being “rushed through” with “serious flaws remaining unexamined.” She highlighted that the new laws would allow the secretary of state to change the payment rate for an EDP at any point, granting “unchecked power” to ministers to “set the price of environmental destruction as low as they like.”
International Comparisons Raise Concerns
Culver noted that developers in England could face “a fraction of the environmental cost their French, German, Dutch and Irish counterparts must meet.” The letter argues that the EDP system undermines the UK’s commitment to nature recovery and could lead to widespread environmental degradation.
Dale Vince, a Labour donor and green energy industrialist, called on Burnham’s government to bring “nature into the centre of government thinking.” Environmentalist Ben Goldsmith, another signatory alongside Stephen Fry and a BBC Traitors star, expressed disappointment at the lack of “real commitment or ambition towards restoring the terribly degraded natural fabric of our island, on which we depend for everything.”
Government Defends the Policy
A government spokesperson defended the plans, stating: “The status quo for development and nature is not working. This government’s vision is for a planning system that delivers for both nature and people. Environmental delivery plans will secure better environmental outcomes that go further than current legislation: not just preventing harm to existing habitats and species but actively restoring and improving them.”
The controversy comes as Burnham prepares to take office after Sir Keir Starmer stepped down last month following a disastrous set of local election results. Critics argue that the timing of the policy, pushed through before the new PM takes full control, raises questions about transparency and due process.
