Overview

• Treasury officials are preparing a further planning reform bill to introduce deeper deregulation measures beyond the current legislation.
• Chancellor Reeves is weighing a UK-only list of protected species that would downgrade safeguards for wildlife considered rare across Europe but common domestically.
• The government aims to scrap the EU-derived precautionary principle and replace it with a risk–benefit test for developments affecting natural habitats.
• Ministers are exploring stricter limits on judicial review to reduce legal challenges that can delay major schemes.
• Environmental charities and some Labour MPs warn that rolling back EU rules and habitat protections could undermine nature recovery and provoke legal and political opposition.