Developers ‘clearing wildlife habitats without approval to win planning permission’

Developers have been accused of underhand tactics in clearing wildlife habitats from sites before planning applications are submitted or granted. It’s hideous in a biodiversity crisis, but these are the forces we’re up against.” Elsewhere in Berkshire, local people said a site in Reading was cleared without an ecology survey – often needed for planning permission – having been carried out. Contractors for the landowner used “inappropriately heavy” machinery for minimal clearance of a site where protected species had been identified, she said, to “ensure there was no ecology left when a survey was conducted”. “Exceeding what is strictly necessary for the various pre-planning surveys seems to me an intentional act of habitat destruction, to ensure there is no wildlife on site when it comes to a proper ecology survey.” Videos showed a badger entering a sett less than two metres from where the contractors had been using petrol hedge-trimmers to strim brambles, the resident said. “Even when developers are fined and ordered to replace the trees they’ve already chopped down, the destruction is already complete, and wildlife in the area will take decades to recover.