The boss of house builder Redrow has lashed out at wildlife red tape, which is causing delays to crucial projects. John Tutte’s anger was directed at the great crested newt population, a protected species that can only be moved from a building site with a special licence from Natural England. “Once the temperature drops, newts can’t be moved and work stops,” he said. “We haven’t got a shortage, there’s no threat to great crested newts in the UK, but it’s European legislation.” His frustration also extended to regulation that forces house builders to work around the hibernation schedules of dormice. He said: “One particular site [near Cheltenham] had dormice, so we can’t start on the site until spring the next year, but then you have the bird nesting season. So there’s a very small window to start work on a site.”
John Tutte, group CEO of Redrow Homes, explained his frustrations with wildlife red tape and planning consent inefficiencies. He cited legislation regarding the great crested newt and the hibernation schedule of dormice as examples that had caused delay to development sites. He also pointed out that the government was deflecting attention from its target of one million homes by next Parliament by criticising the industry for land banking. The minister said he would be writing a letter to all local authorities asking them to consider their own plans on how they could improve access to green space in order to meet the government’s target.