The Landscape Institute (LI), the chartered body for landscape professionals, welcomes the government’s proposed Planning & Infrastructure Bill, recognising its potential to streamline regulation, and to encourage sustainable development and economic growth. As part of ensuring development is truly sustainable, it is vital that new built development helps address the nature and climate crises.

There is a critical need for landscape considerations to be integral to any built and natural environment decision-making and ideally right from the outset. This includes ensuring biodiversity, water management, landscape and visual impact assessment, health & wellbeing, transport and climate targets can be delivered in a joined-up way. “It’s essential that the regulatory framework fosters sustainable development and ensures that nature, landscape and the wider environment is enhanced through the development process, delivering benefits to people, place and nature”, stated Carolin Gohler FLI, President of the Landscape Institute.

We are concerned that changes to the Nature Restoration Fund could allow developers to opt out of on-site mitigation obligations. This could lead to biodiversity loss and a reduction in people’s access to nature – vital for our health and wellbeing. Instead, we advocate clear safeguards that retain and strengthen on-site mitigation and robust biodiversity net gain requirements for any size of development to contribute to.

“On-site mitigation is crucial for genuine, long-term benefits for people, place and nature. We urge the government to engage closely with landscape professionals to ensure sustainable, resilient natural environments that support the wellbeing of communities”, stated Carolin Gohler FLI.