Environment Wildlife bodies fearful of plan to 'streamline' regulation

Wildlife groups have expressed alarm after ministers pledged a radically "streamlined" approach to environmental regulation intended to drive economic growth and speed up the building of new housing.

- Peter Walker Helena Horton

While officials insisted that the plans would be expected to improve nature conservation overall, they could result in some protections being watered down.

The new regime is based on a report commissioned last autumn by Steve Reed, the environment secretary. Led by Dan Corry, a No 10 adviser under Gordon Brown, it sets out 29 recommendations, nine of which are being immediately adopted.

The most radical is that major projects should only have to deal with a single "lead regulator", which would be responsible for ensuring environmental decisions happened at speed. This would not be a new body but one of the existing multiple quangos developers already deal with, such as the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Forestry Commission.

Other recommendations being adopted include a streamlining of environmental permits and guidance, intended to assist "sensible and risk-based" decisions; a single digital portal for such permissions; and a new "infrastructure board" in the environment department to help projects clear barriers.