Labour MP Barry Gardiner keen to fly the flag for endangered Swifts and seven other cavity-nesting birds

                                

Barry Gardiner - speaking up for Swifts

SWIFTS could be back in the parliamentary spotlight after a Labour MP  this week tabled an Early Day Motion which seeks to halt their declining UK population.

Barry Gardiner, the Labour MP for Brent West, is keen to highlight this and other cavity-nesting species  and to create new habitats.

The EDM states: "This House notes with concern the dramatic decline in the breeding population of Swifts whose numbers have dropped by 60 per cent since 1995.

"It recognises that the loss of natural nesting habitat for swifts and other cavity-nesting birds has meant that four species are now on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

"It welcomes the fact that Barratt Homes, Vistry and other members of the Home Builders Federation have stated they have no objection to legislation that would require the incorporation into all new domestic buildings of Swift bricks which  would provide nesting habitat for eight species of small bird.

"These bricks would not delay or increase the costs of the Government's housebuilding plans.

"This House therefore urges the Government to introduce such regulations at the earliest opportunity so as to prevent the extinction of one of our most loved species."

Five other MPs have signed the EDM, namely: Neil Duncan-Jordan, (Lab, Poole), Jim Shannon (DUP, Stranford), Adam Shockat (Ind, Leicester South), Dr Simon Opher (Lab, Stroud) and Jon Trickett (Lab, Normanton and Hemsworth).

Because of pressure on parliamentary time, EDMs are seldom debated, but they provide an opportunity to generate publicity for issues which they regard as important.

A similar proposal was considered in the final days of the last Conservative Government, but it failed to secure backing lest it should add another legislative burden to housebuilders. 

The Wryneck says: This initiative is welcome, but the EDM's wording needs to be amended.  There is a reference to "eight species of small bird" - four of them said to be "endangered" - that favour cavities for their nesting activities. Presumably, they have not been identified because they are less iconic than Swifts, but it is only right that we know in full to which additional species the EDM refers.