Land, Ecology & Development

A countryside charity is urging others to join their campaign to stop the government from changing planning rules, which they say would remove decision-making powers from communities and local councils

Plans to dredge two million cubic metres of sand in a marine conservation zone in the English Channel will wreak havoc on the local ecology of an important sandbank and make a mockery of its legally protected status which needs to be strengthened, say critics

Planning permission for a Welsh housing development has been rejected on conservation grounds related to the surveying and safeguarding of the EU-protected great crested newt

The environment department has hit back again at accusations that the new Office for Environmental Protection will be more lapdog than watchdog

Environment secretary George Eustice has defended the government’s move to enable it to direct the nascent Office for Environmental Protection’s enforcement policy via an amendment to the Environment Bill, describing it as a 'very normal standard clause'

In 2017, environmental impact assessments were required to assess a project’s major accident or disaster risks. New guidance from professional body IEMA aims to help

This year’s Big Butterfly Count recorded the lowest number of butterflies in the event’s 11-year history, according to its organiser Butterfly Conservation

The government claims nearly a third of the UK’s land will be protected for nature by 2030 but what do conservationists make of the pledge?

Housebuilding has slumped and the number of environmental statements received by England’s local planning authorities has plunged by 46% this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, government data shows

Boris Johnson’s pledge to protect 30% of the UK for nature will require both new protected areas and improvements to existing land designations to make them fit for nature recovery, say green groups. Catherine Early reports