My sighting of a Swift this morning (see here) has reminded me again of the serious decline in the summering population of this wonderful bird.
For some time now, there has been a campaign to raise awareness and to promote active measures to support the conservation and recovery of Swifts in the UK.
SS15 wildlife watching: Save our Swifts!
One of the simplest and cheapest measures is to mandate the installation of "Swift bricks" into all new build properties through the building regulations.
Including this requirement in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill currently passing through Parliament would be the obvious way to progress this initiative.
However, yet again the Labour Government has demonstrated that it has no interest in conserving let alone supporting and delivering the recovery of nature and wildlife in the UK!
Providing every new home in England with at least one “swift brick” to help Swifts has been rejected by the Labour Government at the committee stage of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill currently passing through Parliament.
The amendment to the Bill to ask every developer to provide a £35 hollow brick for Swifts, which was tabled by Labour MP Barry Gardiner, has been rejected by the Labour-dominated committee, this despite the Labour Party having supported the “swift brick amendment” when it was tabled in the previous Conservative Government’s legislation in 2023.
It is utterly appalling that something so simple and so cheap as “a brick with a hole” is not happening.
A new petition calling
for “swift bricks” to be made mandatory for new homes has rapidly reached over 138,000 signatures in recent days, two years after the amazing Hannah Bourne-Taylor won a
parliamentary debate after 109,896
voters signed a previous Government petition.
Sign the petition: Save Our Swifts
The Guardian - Labour blocks proposal for "swift bricks" in all new homes in England
Country diary: My fear is that one year the swifts will not return
Love nature .... act now
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