Flying flag for much-loved summer visitor - House of Lords set to debate compulsory swift bricks in new houses

                                

Lord Goldsmith - beating the drum for swifts

SWIFTS are back on the political agenda.

In a surprise move, Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park has tabled an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill that is currently going through parliament.

It calls for the following clause to be installed in the bill.

Swift bricks and boxes

(1) It is a condition in any grant of planning permission for new build developments greater than 5 metres in height, that there must be a minimum average of one swift brick or box per dwelling or unit.

(2) Where feasible, swift bricks integrated into walls must be installed in preference to external swift nest boxes, following best practice guidance.

(3) A planning authority may grant planning permission with exceptions or modifications to the condition specified in subsection (1) in exceptional circumstances, where possible following best practice guidance.

(4) Where a planning authority considers that there are exceptional circumstances under subsection (3), it must publish those exceptional circumstances.

(5) For the purpose of this section -

'Best practice guidance' means the British Standard BS 42021:2022;

'Swift brick' means an integral nest box integrated into the wall of a building suitable for the nesting of the common swift;

'Swift nest box' means an external nest box suitable for the nesting of the common swift.

The intervention by Lord Goldsmith - formerly a junior Environment minister - comes in the wake of a debate last month in which 12  MPs - across all parties - failed to persuade Communities Minister Dehenna Davison to introduce a similar  measure.

At the end of a Commons  debate on the subject,  she told parliamentary colleagues: "It is not something that is being considered by Government at the moment. 

"We would not want to add unnecessary additional complexity to a planning system that already faces a great deal of it."

However, this amendment provides hope. 

It should trigger a further debate, this time in the House of Lords, on the welfare of swifts - a rapidly declining species - with a good chance that it could be welcomed by peers.

A few local councils already have a stipulation that swift bricks must be incorporated into new housing developments, but it is believed that Barratts is the only large housebuilder that has adopted this practice as policy.

Lord Goldsmith - known as Zak Goldsmith  before his elevation to the peerage - has support for his amendment from two other Conservative peers, Lord Randall of Uxbridge, a former adviser on wildlife matters to Therese May when she was Prime Minister, and Baron Blencathra who is deputy chairman of Natural England.