A coalition of about 90 nature organisations led by Wildlife and Countryside Link has warned that dormice, otters and other threatened wildlife could be put at risk by plans to make developers pay a nature restoration levy. The group says there is a ‘black hole’ in the evidence that the proposals would work for many species.

Under the Government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill, new environmental development plans would allow schemes that harm legally protected sites or wildlife to pay the levy to fund habitat and species improvements on a strategic scale. The government has cited a district-level licensing approach for great crested newts, intended to speed up building by replacing older measures to catch and move the amphibians with a faster charging regime. The Wildlife and Countryside Link notes that great crested newts are currently the only species for which this strategic approach has proven effective.

Richard Benwell, chief executive of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said there is a ‘gaping black hole in evidence’ for protected species. He warned that if the new approach is applied to the wrong wildlife, it could accelerate decline from chronic to catastrophic, and urged rigorous processes and real-world data to prevent wildlife from being sacrificed in the name of growth. Becky Pullinger, head of land use planning at The Wildlife Trusts, added that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill threatens a major shake-up of wildlife protections and that scientific evidence should underpin planning. A government spokesperson rejected the claims, saying the Nature Restoration Fund has been carefully designed and will deliver more for nature, while the bill aims to support infrastructure and 1.5 million homes.