𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Keir Starmer is planning on voluntarily extending EU laws to protect spiders, insects and birds in a move that will make it even harder for the PM to meet his housebuilding pledges. On Wednesday the Supreme Court ruled that EU habitat legislation does not need to apply on a number of wetland areas, however the government now wants to change rules so the EU law does apply.

As well as squandering Brexit sovereignty, the move has been greeted with incredulity from house builders who argue the move will be a major blow to efforts to provide enough homes. Chairman of the Land, Planning and Development Federation Paul Brocklehurst warned: “When the highest court in the land has given you a way of simplifying or lessening regulation, why are you trying to make it more complex again? When you listen to the chancellor and Labour MPs, this kind of decision runs counter to the approach they say they wish to see.”

The Home Builders Federation added: “In the interests of accelerating housing delivery, the government now needs to ensure that proposed changes to its new planning bill do not undo the Supreme Court decision.”

Tory peer Lord Banner KC who acted on behalf of a developer appealing to the supreme court earlier in the week blasted: “It is hard to understand why a government that professes to be pro-growth and wishes to streamline planning regulation is proposing legislation that would significantly extend the reach of the habitats regulations to cover sites that are not protected by the EU Habitats Directive … and thereby undermine the streamlining effect of today’s Supreme Court decision.”

The Government has committed to “build, baby, build”, and ‘back the builders not the blockers’, at it scrambles to get back on course to hit its pledge of building 1.5 million homes before the next election.

In August official figures showed that planning applications had slumped during the first year of Labour in power.

According to think tank Britain Remade, around 40,000 planning applications for new homes would be required every single month.

However, over the last year, applications averaged at just 18,284.

In the first six months of 2025, there were 101,000 housing applications in England, 10,000 fewer than in 2024 and 30,000 fewer than 2023.

Britain Remade’s Sam Richards warned: “The government has not done enough to make it easier, faster, cheaper to build the homes that we need.

“They are making some steps in the right direction, but they’re not going far enough and they’re not going fast enough.”

The think tank believes that the government is currently on track to miss its 2029 house building target by around 30%, or 480,000.

Things are even bleaker in London, where Sadiq Khan has overseen a complete collapse in housebuilding despite the most acute affordability crisis in the country.

Just 4,170 new homes were begun in the 2024/25 financial year, the lowest of any region in the UK.

A government spokesman said: “Our Planning and Infrastructure Bill will unlock development across the country, while rightly protecting important sites and species — including Ramsar sites, which are wetlands of international significance — creating a win-win for nature and growth.”