Podcast episode 165: What is really wrong with the Habitats Regulations?

Episode 165 of 50 Shades of Planning is available now via this link or from the usual podcast platforms.

You might have spotted, planning fans (and a shout-out to eagle-eyed friend of the podcast Nicola Gooch for putting it on my radar), that DEFRA last week launched a consultation on significant changes to it’s guidance on how Habitat Regulations Assessments should be carried out.

The consultation comes at an interesting time. As Nicola has noted in a recent blog, it is, firstly, barely a month since DEFRA announced that Natural England and the Environment Agency have been given a new mandate to “prioritise outcomes over process” and “speed up decision-making while maintaining high environmental standards”. Secondly, we are in the midst of Part 3 of the Planning & Infrastructure Act being rolled out. Thirdly, it comes shortly after MHCLG’s announcement of an intention to transition from Environmental Impact Assessments to Environmental Outcomes Reports within the next year.

As it so happens, five people with expertise in this area kindly accepted an invitation from me to convene online just last month to discuss these very themes. Those five people are old friends of the podcast Nina Pindham and Julian Arthur and new friends of the podcast Charlie Banner, Sally Hayns and Sam Dumitriu.

Nina is a Barrister at Cornerstone Barrister; Julian is a Director at Tyler Grange; Lord Banner KC practices at Keating Chambers; Sally is the CEO at the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management; and Sam is the Head of Policy at Britain Remade.
A more comprehensive and authoritative summary of bat tunnels and fish discos; Environmental Delivery Plans and the Nature Restoration Fund; People over Wind and the precautionary principle; and the Fingleton Review, I do not think that you could hope to find.

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