On 24th November 2025, the House of Lords debated Commons Reasons and Amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Votes were held on amendments to the bill, in which a Bishop took part:
Votes: Planning and Infrastructure Bill
Tag: Planning and Infrastructure Bill 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Bishop of Norwich tables amendments on protection of chalk streams
The Bishop of Norwich tabled a further amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill focusing on the protection of chalk streams on 24th November 2025,, in response to Commons reasons/amendments to the bill:
The Lord Bishop of Norwich: At end insert “and do propose Amendment 38B in lieu—
38B: After Clause 52, insert the following new Clause—
“Chalk streams
(1) The Secretary of State must, within 12 months of the day on which this Act is passed, by regulations made by statutory instrument, provide guidance to strategic planning authorities on how they must, in delivering their planning functions, take into account the need to define, protect and enhance chalk stream habitats.
(2) A statutory instrument containing regulations under this section may not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.””
My Lords, I am grateful for the strong support that my earlier Amendment 38 gained on Report. Chalk streams are globally rare habitats of which we have 85% in England. We simply must protect them and other irreplaceable habitats, because we have lost so much of this nation’s nature already.
I pay tribute to the Minister for her hard work on the Bill and for engaging with me, the noble Baronesses, Lady Grender and Lady Willis, and the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, together with Minister Pennycook, the Minister for Housing and Planning. I know that the noble Baroness values chalk streams in her native Hertfordshire. I am grateful that she recognises the positive intent of this amendment, and I listened very carefully to the three commitments that she gave. But I am still concerned, even with those commitments.
Continue reading “Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Bishop of Norwich tables amendments on protection of chalk streams”Votes: Planning and Infrastructure Bill
On 3rd November 2025, the House of Lords debated the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Votes were held on amendments to the bill, in which a Bishop took part:
Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Bishop of Manchester supports amendments on institutional investment
On 3rd November 2025, The Bishop of Manchester spoke in support of amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill focused on institutional investment:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I noted what the noble Lord, Lord Evans, has just said. Unlike my predecessor, I have no intention of trying to petition for parts of the diocese of Chester to become parts of the diocese of Manchester, just because of the urban sprawl extending—but I rise to speak in favour of the amendment proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Fuller.
Continue reading “Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Bishop of Manchester supports amendments on institutional investment”Votes: Planning and Infrastructure Bill
On 27th October 2025, the House of Lords debated the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Votes were held on amendments to the bill, in which a Bishop took part:
Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Bishop of Norwich tables amendment on chalk stream protections
During a debate on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on 27th October 2025, the Bishop of Norwich spoke to his amendment on the protection of chalk streams, which “would require a spatial development strategy to list chalk streams in the strategy area, outline measures to protect them from environmental harm, and impose responsibility on strategic planning authorities to protect and enhance chalk stream environments.”
The Lord Bishop of Norwich: My Lords, I shall speak to Amendment 94, and I thank the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, the noble Viscount, Lord Trenchard, and the noble Baroness, Lady Willis of Summertown, for their support. I am most grateful to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Grender, who has just spoken so powerfully about her amendment, as well as offering her support for this amendment. Amendment 94 would require a spatial development strategy to list chalk streams in the strategy area, outline measures to protect them from environmental harm and impose responsibility on strategic planning authorities to protect and enhance chalk stream environments.
Chalk streams, as we have heard, are a very special type of river. Some 85% of the world’s chalk streams are in England. They are fed primarily by spring water from the chalk aquifer, not rain, which means that they have clear, cold water and very stable flows. These globally rare habitats are found in a broad sweep from Yorkshire and the Lincolnshire Wolds through Norfolk, the Chilterns, Hampshire and Dorset. The Bure, Glaven, Wensum, Test, Itchen and Meon are river names that come to mind flowing, as they do, through the tapestry of English history and in our literature, such as the River Pang-based Wind in the Willows. They are rich in minerals, especially calcium, and this “base rich” environment supports a distinctive and rich ecology.
It is no wonder that this amendment and a similar one in the other place have received such positive support, including in your Lordships’ Committee. What it seeks to do is such an obvious thing, for what we love, we should desire to protect; what we value, we should safeguard; what is of global significance, we should be deeply proud of.
Continue reading “Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Bishop of Norwich tables amendment on chalk stream protections”Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Bishop of Manchester supports legislation and raises need for equality in housing access
The Bishop of Manchester spoke at the second reading of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on 25th June 2025, welcoming the legislation and the expansion of social housing in the UK, and raising the needs of rural and minority communities in relation to housing and land development:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, it is always a great privilege to follow the noble Lord, Lord Best, whose wisdom on housing is quite unparalleled. I draw attention to my own interests in social housing, as set out in the register, and to the fact that a number of provisions in the Bill might impact on the interests of the Church Commissioners for England, who pay my stipend and own the house I live in.
I welcome the Bill. We desperately need a rapid expansion in the building of social homes, ideally at social rents. Enactment of the measures here included can be part of the architecture—please excuse the pun—we need if we are going to underpin the ambition for a mixed economy for housing, one which will live up to the Archbishops’ Commission on Housing’s values of homes that are safe and sustainable.
Continue reading “Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Bishop of Manchester supports legislation and raises need for equality in housing access”
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