Housebuilders slam bird protection rules

Ben Bradshaw, the nature conservation minister, confirmed last week that the Thames Basin, where 40,000 homes have been earmarked, has been designated a Special Protection Area (SPA) under the European commission's birds directive.

This has led to the rejection of some housing schemes, after English Nature started objecting to planning applications within 5 km of the SPA, because it fears that increased development will drive rare birds, such as nightjars, from their natural habitats.

But housebuilders are concerned that councils in Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire, are using the directive as a pretext to block developments to which they are totally opposed.

Roger Jelley, joint managing director of Surrey housebuilder Premier Properties, said he had begun laying off subcontractors because Tory councils were refusing consent for schemes using the SPA directive as grounds for the decision.

He said: "It's quite politically charged.

"A lot of these Tory councils don't want the housing anyway and therefore councillors are not making an effort to resolve the problem."

Jelley added that smaller local housebuilders and subcontractors would be worst affected because, unlike national companies, they could not divert resources elsewhere.

Ian Randall, managing director of Linden Homes in Surrey, said the company had stopped looking at sites in the SPA area and had halted work on three schemes within it.

He added: "It will push land prices higher in neighbouring areas."

Flight or fight: Where the bird protection area is having an impact

Cala Homes has also axed 15 jobs at its office in Godstone, Surrey, which is in the heart of the area affected.

Stuart Baseley, the executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation, accused the government of dithering.

He said: "A delay of this magnitude threatens the viability of many homebuilding and associated businesses based in the Thames Basin, with clear consequences for many hundreds of jobs.

"It also puts at risk 40,000 new homes over the next 10 years, including 12,000 affordable units, in a region facing the worst affordability problems outside London."

English Nature is concerned that more development will lead to pressure on the open heath land from recreational users, driving the birds away from their natural habitat.

It says that to avoid this problem developers must provide open space for recreational purposes.

Conservationists say that the area in the Home Counties is a vital habitat for birds such as the nightjar, woodlark and the Dartford warbler.

The South East England Regional Assembly has commissioned Land Use Consultants to carry out an audit of sites but it will take two years to complete.