Setting up a 'wildbelt' will protect nature from planning shake-up, conservationists say

The Wildlife Trusts warn that ministers’ ‘bias’ towards development threatens Britain’s biodiversity, writes Jane Dalton

The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries and numbers of hedgehogs, along with other native species, have plummeted already (DPA/Getty Images)

An overhaul of England’s planning system must protect any land being returned to its natural state, classifying it as "wildbelt", conservationists say.

The Wildlife Trusts warn that the government’s proposed shake-up, with its “bias” towards development, weakens environmental protections and increases threats to nature.

The new official proposals will “make a bad situation worse” in one of the most nature-depleted countries on the planet, they say.