Tory peer demands: Which 'idiot' is opposed to installation of swift bricks in new housing projects?

Lord Blencathra - 'no-brainer'

A CONSERVATIVE peer has hit out at the Government's apparent reluctance to make the installation of swift bricks in new housing developments a condition of planning permission.

In this week's debate in the House of Lords, former MP Lord Blencathra insisted: "Installing these bricks is an absolute no-brainer. They cost between £25 and £35.

"Last year, the big four housebuilders - just four of them, Barratt, Berkeley, Persimmon and Bellway - made profits of £2.749 billion. 

"I am sure they can afford a £25 brick for the 300,000 homes they might or might not manage to build next year." 

Continued Lord Blencathra. who is deputy chairman of Natural England: "I learned today - I hope, wrongly - that the Government may be opposed to this measure. 

"That, too, would be a no-brainer if they are. 

"I wonder where the opposition has come from. I hope they have not been lobbied by the Home Builders' Federation - the organisation which lied, lied and lied again about the Government blocking the building of 145,000 homes because of nutrient neutrality. 

"That was totally untrue. 

"Of course, housebuilders are sitting on more than one million planning applications and are land-banking until they can release them gradually and make maximum profits. 

"If that is legitimate, so be it, but let us not let them attack the Government for holding up housebuilding when it is not the Government doing it.

"I understand that, in the Commons, the Government said they could not mandate this nationally and it must be left to local voluntary discretion. 

"Housebuilding left to local voluntary discretion? 

"You cannot build a house anywhere in the country without the Government almost dictating the colour of the curtains.

"Look at the national regulations on every aspect of housebuilding: electrics; plumbing; the type of cement; the way the damp-proof course is laid; the tiles and insulation. 

"Nearly every mortal thing of importance in the house - the width of the doorways, the bannisters, the boilers you may install after 2030 - is dictated by central government, and rightly so. 

"I am not complaining about that, but I am complaining about the apparent hypocrisy if the Government I support is now saying: 'Oh, we can’t order every house to have a little brick installed because that is taking national government interference too far'. 

"If that is the case, I think that is nonsense.

"I know that some Government ministers have already installed these bricks. They have done it voluntarily, without guidance. 

"If it is good enough for some Ministers, quite rightly, to save swifts out of their own volition, then it should be quite right that the Government support a measure to impose this nationally.

"If it is the case that the Government is opposed to this, I would really like to know where that opposition came from.

"If it is true,  then some idiot - an adviser, spad or civil servant, but hopefully not a minister - has decided to oppose this. 

"In the first three years of this Government, under Michael Gove and George Eustice in environment, we made the biggest strides forward in environmental and nature protection that this country has ever seen, with the 25-year plan and the Environment Act. 

"Now we could lose that good reputation because of a trivial thing if we oppose installing a 25-quid brick in a house wall to save swifts."

Other peers also contributed to the September 6 evening debate including Lord Randall of Uxbridge whose contribution is below.

"The hour is late and, like the swifts, most of the Benches have migrated somewhere else, possibly to cavities unknown. 

"The people remaining in the Chamber probably do not need me to tell them about the marvels of swifts.

                                

Lord Randall - 'marvellous ideas'

"Whether it is dubbed or recorded, the sound of swifts overhead is always in dramas when it is summertime.

"I am sorry that we do not have more time today to discuss this issue and see where we are going, but I urge the Government to look at it. 

"I have had a briefing from house builders today with some marvellous ideas, so they are sort of onside. 

"This is something that we can really get behind because it would not cost the Government anything. 

"It would just show that this country and this Government is  nature-friendly, and I would welcome any comments from the Front Bench to that effect."

Another voice was that of  Baroness Bennett (Green Party) of Manor Castle Green.

"This is something that I have been talking about," she told colleagues. 

"I was on TalkTV, speaking with  Julia Hartley-Brewer about restoring biodiversity. 

"I happened to mention swift bricks in that discussion and the presenter said in response, “Isn’t that just a small thing? Don’t we have to do much more?”

"Of course that is true, but, if you are a swift then a swift brick is not a small thing. 

"The fact that you need somewhere to make your home and raise your young is a matter of life and death. 

"As the noble Lord, Lord Goldsmith, said, there has been a 60 per cent decline in the population in the last 25 years. 

"These beautiful and utterly amazing creations of nature depend on having a place to rest and raise their young, and we are closing those spaces off.

"The noble Lord, Lord Goldsmith, also made an important point about human well-being - how much we all benefit from having swifts around and what a wonderful addition they are to our environment.

"Think about young people, such as the toddler who says, “What’s that?”, and has it explained so that they learn more. That is crucial.

"The state of our biodiversity is absolutely parlous. 

"We are one of the worst corners of this planet for nature. 

"As we heard passionately from the Benches opposite, surely the Government cannot oppose this - they cannot oppose what was said by MPs in the other place and is being said by so many petitioners.

"Please let us have some common sense here."

Next to speak was Lord Lucas (Con) who declared: "Swifts, by their nature, nest in holes in trees but took advantage of the advent of human buildings to transfer their allegiance in our direction. 

"Now in our towns, any tree with a hole in it is immediately felled as a danger to people and we are blocking up the places where swifts used to nest in buildings. 

"We need to do something about that - it is absolutely our obligation."                                           

Lord Lucas - 'symbolic act'

He continued: "Swift bricks seem to me an absolutely symbolic act. 

"We would be saying that we will start to make room for nature around us and in our habitations. 

"It would involve people in direct contact with nature, rather than nature being somewhere else where they do not have to go if they do not want to. 

"That makes this a really important symbolic advance.

"I like the proposal: it is just that you put in a swift brick. 

"There are no downsides, no penalties and no rules. You could fill it with cement a year later and no one is going to prosecute you. 

"I have got scaffolding on my house at the moment, so we are putting up some swift boxes because it is not suitable for swift bricks. 

"The best supplier I found said, “If you’re buying a swift box, why don’t you put a bat box on the back?”. 

"I looked up the regulations as to what would happen if a bat actually occupied that box, and it is ridiculous. 

"It would be tens of thousands of pounds off the value of the house, and all the regulations mean that you cannot do anything without bringing in a bat person if you have bats in a bat box. 

"I could not paint it or shift it; I could not paint around it; I could not make noise next to it. 

"The contrast between bat regulation and this proposal on swifts is stark. 

"I am not putting in a bat box - I am not bats - but I am putting in swift boxes.

Also enthusiastic was Baroness Hoey (Lab) who declared: "As the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, said, it is common sense, and we begin to think why nobody thought of it before. 

"As a young child, I grew up loving birdwatching - watching swifts and all kinds of birds.

                     

Baroness Hoey - 'common sense'

"Knowing how much joy and pleasure that gave to me, my concern is that we could have a future generation growing up who would not see birds in the same way. 

"I say to the Minister and the Front Bench that sometimes you have to accept that you have made the wrong decision; this is an opportunity now to put that right."

Another contributor was Baroness Pinnock (Lib-Dem).

Said she: "I have an interest, as a member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. 

"Having said that, noble Lords will be able to tell that I favour and love watching birds, and I visit the RSPB sites as often as I can because it is a joy. 

"Over the years, I have seen a decline. 

"Swifts are summer migrants, as everyone will know.                                        

Baroness Pinnock - RSPB member

"I always look forward to seeing swallows and house martins when I am out delivering for the May elections - that is when I see my first swallow or swift. 

"If it is a joy for me, it is a joy for many other people.

"Obviously I  support swift bricks -who would not? 

"I remember watching a Countryfile TV  programme about them on the BBC, and about an individual who made thousands of these swift bricks - perhaps they were swift boxes -because of his passion for that bird. 

"So let us hear what the Government have to say; it is over to them to make a decision.

"Another 'swiftie' is Baroness Taylor (Lab) of Stevenage who said: 

"We believe that specifically including swift bricks as a measure  to be incorporated in planning law, is justified because of the unique nature of these precious birds’ nesting habits. 

"They add to the biodiversity of urban areas, and I am particularly keen that we support that. 

"I grew up as a townie and the swifts and house martins were a real feature of my childhood growing up in a town. 

"Their decline has been very visible and sad to see.                                              

Baroness Taylor - 'precious' birds

"If there is anything we can do to either halt that decline or hopefully turn it around, we should certainly do so. 

"There is definitely a clear and present threat to these species. 

"We hope the Government will accept this relatively a small step which could make a world of difference to protecting our swift population.

"The noble Lord, Lord Goldsmith has our full support."

The Wryneck says: For such an experienced experienced politician, Lord Blencathra’s contribution to the swift bricks campaign is extraordinarily clumsy, not to say abusive. It is Government ministers who are holding up the project, not the Home Builders’ Federation some of whose members are known to be supportive - pro-actively so. He seeks to name and shame Barratt Homes, but this is a company that has long co-operated with the RSPB on the installation of nest cavity bricks. And, in any case, why seek to pick a fight with developers when, with more subtle coaxing, many more of them would probably come on board? Partnership is the way forward - not confrontation.

                                                

Swiftbricks in a new Barratt home - this one on the Wigmore Park estate in New Waltham, near Grimsby