Could bird-safe glass become mandatory?

The House of Lords is currently debating various changes to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Significantly, there was a push last week to do a number of amendments to promote wildlife welfare.

Bird safety

The first proposal is to make bird-safe glass mandatory for all new buildings in England. The estimate from wildlife conservation groups is a huge 30 million birds are lost each year in the UK because of collisions with glazing. The bird population has been dropping since the 70s, but the decline has been accelerating in the last few decades. A major issue is higher quality windows are hard for birds to detect, increasing collisions and deaths.

Conservationists estimate that mandating bird-safe glass for new builds in England would reduce collisions by a huge 90%. The key is that safer glazing includes coatings or patterns specifically for birds to detect. It means they are more likely to avoid buildings, especially high risk ones with extensive glazing systems. Crucially, the move to bird-safe glazing would be relatively low cost and would have minimal impact on occupants; high quality products have patterns that are fine and barely noticeable.

Nesting boxes

Another proposal is to make it a requirement to install more nesting boxes for birds. Specifically, the focus is on swifts. They have had one of the most significant declines in the last few decades, with numbers down 66% between 95 and 22. The problem is that many of the sites they used for nesting, including in the eaves of buildings, aren't viable anymore. Making swift nesting boxes mandatory would hopefully help to prevent further decline in the population.

Hedgehogs and bats

A third notable amendment proposed for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is to do more to protect hedgehog and bat populations. Hedgehogs are now "near threatened", with numbers down significantly in urban and rural areas. Bats are at risk too, with significant decline in the last century. Proposals are to make more new builds include measures to support both species, including hedgehog highways and bat boxes.

Support

There is a lot of support for the wildlife conservation amendments. Several non-governmental organisations have voices their approval. This includes the Wild Animal Welfare Committee. A group of peers in the House of Lords is supporting the changes too, with backing from various parties.

Notably, there is also support for bigger changes to explicitly focus on the welfare of animals. This includes inclusion in Spatial Development Strategies. It would make it a requirement when thinking about future land use in England.