Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of mandating the use of swift bricks in national development management policies.

The focus of building regulations is health, safety and wellbeing. In general, where wildlife is referenced in building regulations, it is because there is a direct relevance to ensuring structural integrity.

Expanding the scope of building regulations would place an additional burden on the people and processes of a regulatory regime which is already dealing with the increased demands of the Building Safety Act whilst supporting a housebuilding target of 1.5 million homes. We therefore consider that measures for nature conservation are better promoted and encouraged, rather than mandated through building regulations.

The revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December 2024 included several changes designed to enhance and protect the environment. For example, it expects developments to provide net gains for biodiversity, including through incorporating features which support priority or threatened species such as swifts, bats and hedgehogs.