It is telling that local authorities are already
adopting their own biodiversity net gain policies, somewhat
overriding whatever delay to legal implementation the government
may propose.
Planning is a close relation of politics – and events in
UK politics have been moving fast. An announcement on planning was
due from the new Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and
Communities, Simon Clarke, on 19 October 2022, but this was
overtaken first by the new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt rolling back most
of the previous Chancellor's minibudget of 23 September 2022,
and then by the resignation of the Prime Minister Liz Truss. By the
time that this article is published, we may well have yet another
new Housing Secretary.
