The housing secretary has insisted the government is protecting wildlife in its charge to build 1.5 million new homes, despite sweeping deregulation allowing some builders to sidestep biodiversity rules.
Angela Rayner, who is also the deputy prime minister, told ITV News "nobody’s killing wildlife" when the concerns of environmentalists were put to her, while she was visiting a development to announce her reforms.
Among the plans is a move to take decision-making powers away from local councillors on small building projects, and hand them to unelected officials, in a bid to cut red tape and speed up the approval process.
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