Labour’s new environmental plan can bring a reset in how it talks about nature

The government’s new Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), published yesterday, marks a step-change in environmental ambition in this country – shifting nature recovery onto a genuinely strategic footing. Combined with the Planning and Infrastructure Bill’s imminent Royal Assent, this is a rare alignment; a moment to reset how the government talks about nature, development and the future of our communities.

This government must build. Renewal across Britain means more homes, more renewable energy, stronger rail and transport links and the digital and physical infrastructure on which a modern economy depends. After decades of under delivery on housing targets, the imperative to build is not just economic, but a moral one. But whilst the EIP signals real ambition, the public rhetoric – particularly around the Planning Bill – has often suggested otherwise. The HS2 bat tunnel has become a cartoon shorthand for an “unbuildable” Britain, and too often, the message implied that sweeping aside a few pesky species would somehow unlock national renewal.

This simply doesn’t align with where the public are – a surprising departure for a party who need to be attuned to the priorities of the voters it must keep. People understand the need for housebuilding. But they also care deeply about the green spaces in their communities and the places they call home. When development feels imposed rather than shaped with communities, resistance grows.

READ MORE: ‘Do the public want Labour to “Build, baby, build”?”

Polling reinforces this. The voters Labour needs, from the Reform-curious to the Green-curious, are not persuaded by anti-nature rhetoric. As Luke Tryl of More in Common put it recently: “The political risk isn’t in protecting nature – it’s in being seen to sacrifice it.” Rhetorical lines such as “vegetable lobby” or “builders vs blockers” may land in Westminster, but they are meaningless – even alienating – elsewhere. 

It also misdiagnoses the problem. The Environmental Audit Committee’s report recently challenged the idea that nature is a core blocker. Environmental rules introduce scrutiny (that is their purpose) and can sometimes even be disproportionate – no rules are perfect – but they are far from the main barrier. Hollowed-out planning authorities, overstretched regulators and a lack of strategic decision-making do far more to hold the system back. 

As Emma Reynolds indicated at the EIP launch today, the deeper truth is that nature isn’t the enemy of growth – it is the foundation of it. Nearly all the government’s objectives rely on a resilient natural environment. Homes, data centres, transport routes, energy networks and new towns are increasingly exposed to flooding, water scarcity, heatwaves and soil degradation. Nature-based solutions – wetlands that absorb floodwaters, tree canopies that cool neighbourhoods, healthy soils that support resilient crops – are now critical national infrastructure. Insurers, banks and infrastructure companies already recognise this and are investing accordingly. 

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Most frustrating of all, this rhetoric is distracting from the often excellent work that Labour is doing on nature – retaining funding for key farming schemes; committing £400m to peatland restoration and tree planting; announcing three new national forests; investing in national parks; backing beaver releases; taking steps to reduce pesticide use; setting up a National Estate for Nature with major landowners; and, through the Call for Evidence, actively shaping how private capital can support nature recovery. 

The EIP strengthens this trajectory. It raises ambition in key areas such as air quality, chemical pollution and access to nature, whilst laying out a coherent, landscape-scale approach to nature recovery. It provides the strategic direction needed to meet the commitment to restore 250,000 hectares of nature-rich habitat by 2030.

This can be a legacy-defining moment for Labour. For the first time, the private sector stands ready to mobilise serious capital for nature recovery. The government must seize this. It must now use the strategic direction set by the new EIP and ensure communities benefit from them within this Parliament. The best way to silence critics of the Planning and Infrastructure Act will be to demonstrate that it not only speeds up planning, but can help deliver these ambitions for nature, paid for by developers.

That means clarity about two things key issues: strong communities depend on strong natural systems; and green space cannot remain the preserve of the few.

Labour was elected to rebuild Britain – to deliver the infrastructure people desperately need while protecting and restoring the places they love. The next step is action on the ground. And for that, language matters. You cannot drive national renewal while speaking as if nature is the problem. 

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