New houses over newts and Nimbys: Angela Rayner attacks conservation rules hampering building and vows to sideline locals to create 1.5m homes [Video]

09:09 EST 08 Dec 2024, updated 10:42 EST 08 Dec 2024

Angela Rayner lashed out at environmental rules hindering house building today as she claimed newts are ‘more protected than people’.

The Housing Secretary suggested strict conservation regulations which have been accused of slowing down construction and making it more expensive could be side-stepped.

The Great Crested Newt is a protected species under UK laws carried over from when it was in the EU, which means it is an offence to ‘deliberately kill, injure, disturb or capture them or …destroy their breeding sites and resting places’ even if there are none there.

Bats have also been criticised for slowing down building work, because it is against the law to disturb them or their roosts. 

Ms Rayner was on TV today trying to sell Labour‘s plans to build 1.5million homes by 2029 and also vowed to take on local ‘not in my back yard’ campaigners with a streamlined planning process.

Asked …