In a speech in the House of Lords, Conservative back-bencher Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park this week urged the Government to introduce a measure that would make the installation of swift bricks mandatory in new housing developments. This what he said on Wednesday evening.
My Lords, I will be brief because this proposal is relatively simple and, in many respects, speaks for itself.
Before I describe it, I will heap praise and thanks on a campaigner who is simply formidable. I am pleased that she is in the Gallery today, probably holding a swift box.
Hannah Bourne-Taylor has single-handedly made what for many people appears to be a niche concern into a national campaign - not least by walking naked through London painted as a swift and causing quite a stir as noble Lords can imagine.
She has turned this into a national cause. It is because of her that this campaign exists.
Back in 2002 the British Trust for Ornithology cited the loss of cavity nesting sites as the key factor in the decline of cavity-nesting urban birds.
Since then, four species - house martins, starlings, swifts and house sparrows - have been added to the dreaded red list of species of particular concern that, crudely speaking, face extinction.
Worst hit among them are house martins.
When I was preparing my notes, I was going to say that there has been a 37 per cent decline, but I have since discovered that the figure is even worse at 50 per cent.
Swifts, too, have suffered horrifically; their breeding population declined by 60 per cent between 1995 and 2020. That number continues to sink.
Despite broad agreement, not just in this place or the other place but across the whole country, that the UK requires urgent action or to introduce emergency measures to turn around these trends, the reality is that nothing of any real substance has yet been done.
The problem, as noble Lords no doubt know well, is that sites for cavity-nesting creatures such as swifts have simply been lost.
It is not because of evil or malign intent but because of repairs, house modernisation and even insulation - something of which we all in this House would like to see much more.
This simple proposal to include swift bricks in new builds is key.
It is not just about providing a supporting hand to a species in trouble; it is critical, indeed essential.
Modern new-build homes are simply not designed to accommodate nature.
Swifts in particular rely completely on cavities, as noble Lords know.
Without those, there are no safe or permanent nesting sites for them in Britain.
Without man-made cavities in this sense, those birds have no future in this country.
It is crazy, and something I learned only recently, that the simple swift brick is not even included in the biodiversity net gains metric.
The amendment that we are here to discuss today could not be much simpler.
The swift brick is a zero-maintenance solution.
It is just a brick in a wall that can be added to a building as any other brick could.
Cheap
For a refurb or a new build, it is cheap; it costs £30 or thereabouts.
We know that they work because, wherever they have been tried and installed, they have worked.
Surveys conducted on, for example, the Duchy estates, where swift bricks have been installed in numerous buildings, have resulted in a staggering 96 per cent occupancy rate. Even that number continues to grow.
Obviously, not all the bricks are used by swifts. I have heard that as one of the counterarguments - 'What about other creatures using these boxes?' -to which my answer is, 'So what?'.
Heaven forbid that a house sparrow might decide to use one of these swift boxes. Who would not be filled with joy at the prospect?
It just seems to me to be such a non-argument as to almost not merit discussion.
I beseech colleagues to support a national policy to ensure installation of these magical, simple, cheap bricks in all new homes.
It will not only help counter the tragic loss of cavity-nesting birds but directly help the Government to meet what are, let us remember, legally binding targets to halt biodiversity loss by 2030.
This measure has unanimous support -not all measures do—from ornithologists, all of whom agree and have gone to great lengths to explain that there is no downside.
By the way, swifts do not eat vegetation; they eat insects.
They particularly enjoy mosquitoes and eat mountainous volumes of them, so there is yet another bonus to encouraging swifts in and around our homes.
I am told that they also do not leave droppings; there is a reason for that, which I will not go into.
Droppings
I am sure that the expert up in the Gallery will know, but they do not leave droppings underneath their nest boxes.
They tidy up - I will tell noble Lords what they do; they eat them, I am afraid, probably to recycle the mineral content.
I do not know why, but for whatever reason they remove them. They are very tidy, conscientious and thoughtful creatures.
Those developers I have heard from are all supportive.
One major housebuilder, Thakeham, has actively appealed for an industry-wide commitment.
Very recently the Irish Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss voted to include swift bricks in all new builds.
In the Netherlands, swift bricks are already installed as a mitigation measure.
There have been suggestions, and I understand where they have come from, that this should be a voluntary measure.
I get that; no one wants excessive bureaucracy and mandates.
But I am afraid we know that this has not worked.
It is not through lack of caring: who does not want to see swifts flying in and around their homes and gardens?
Who does not feel better, frankly, when they have greater proximity to nature?
Urgency
National legislation is necessary because of the urgency of the situation.
We have debated the issue over and over again; we understand that this country is in the midst of a biodiversity collapse.
National legislation is necessary because nowhere near enough swift boxes have been installed, despite swift bricks being nationally promoted since 2019, including in guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework.
That is not to diss the NPPF; it is a valuable piece of literature, but it has been largely ignored in the context of the issue we are discussing here today.
A paltry 20,000 boxes have been installed at best -that is an optimistic assessment.
District councillors and the vice-chair of the Association of Local Government Ecologists have all been clear that the current situation is not enough.
We are simply not seeing take-up of these swift boxes.
Of 455 local planning authorities in England, just nine have planning conditions around swift boxes, so the voluntary approach does not work.
We are asking here for something so small, so simple and so inexpensive, but something that will have a gigantic impact on these irreplaceable, iconic creatures.
I really encourage the Government to think again about their opposition to a measure that is wildly popular and would do so much good for this country.
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