Environmental audit committee knocks government plans to offset developers damage to biodiversity
Government plans to allow developers to offset damage to biodiversity have been branded 鈥渙verley simplistic鈥� by MPs.
The plans, outlined in a government green paper on the subject, would allow developers to invest in improving the biodiversity of one area to offset the impact of development in another.
But a report by the Environmental Audit Committee, published today, has warned the plans are too simplistic and risk allowing developers to concrete over existing green sites.
Chair of the committee Joan Walley, said offsetting could 鈥渋mprove the way our planning system accounts for the damage developments do to wildlife鈥� but required 鈥済reat care鈥� in its drafting.
She added: 鈥淢any witnesses to the inquiry were concerned that the government鈥檚 proposal would allow offsetting to be applied to ancient woodland and Sites of Special Scientific Interest. There is a danger that an overly simplistic offsetting system would not protect these long-established eco-systems.鈥�
Walley said the 20 minute assessment of potential development sites the government proposed was 鈥渘ot adequate鈥� and was just a 鈥渂ox-ticking exercise鈥�.
The report s