Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Simon Opher Excerpts

Report stage
Monday 9th June 2025 Commons Chamber

Just as people and communities should have rights, we need to stand up for the rights of nature. People want to see our rivers and waterways cleaned up and our environment protected—rivers such as the Tone in Taunton, where communities, by achieving new designations, have uncovered poor water quality and a desperate need for investment. Precious chalk streams across the country have no protection at all, and our amendment 16 would give them the protection they require. People want to see development that treads lightly on the land and reduces harmful emissions.

[Dr Simon Opher (Stroud) (Lab)]

I agree with some of the things that the hon. Member is saying, but we all want to build faster. Under the local district plan in Stroud, we have been waiting four years for our housing plan, and this Bill will free us from the quagmire that is our current planning system. Last Friday, I met representatives of the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and the Severn Rivers Trust, who have serious concerns about part 3 of the Bill. Does the hon. Member agree that we should have a short pause on part 3 and keep some of it?

[Gideon Amos]

I certainly agree that part 3 requires amending. Our amendments seek to do that, as I will come to shortly.

People want to see development that treads lightly on the land and reduces harmful emissions. Our new clause 2 would enforce the zero carbon standard for all new homes, on which the Liberal Democrats and Labour Ministers worked so hard before the Conservatives cancelled the whole zero carbon homes programme in 2015.