Swift bricks will be installed in all new buildings in Scotland after the Scottish parliament voted in favour of a law to help endangered cavity-nesting birds.
The Scottish government and MSPs across the parties backed an amendment by Scottish Green Mark Ruskell to make swift bricks mandatory for all new dwellings “where reasonably practical and appropriate”.
The swift move contrasts with the four-year battle to bring the hollow £35 bricks into law in England. The Labour government last year rejected an amendment to make the bricks mandatory for new buildings, instead introducing them into planning guidance, meaning there is no legal obligation on developers or planning authorities to provide them.
Welcoming the decision to make swift bricks mandatory during the Holyrood debate, minister Gillian Martin said: “This iconic species was once a very common sight across Scotland, particularly in urban areas, but they are under threat, declining by 60% since 1995, which has led to them being on the red list of birds of conservation concern. I welcome suggestions of practical ways to help protect this important species and improve biodiversity.”
Ruskell said: “Swifts join our communities every summer, but they are becoming rarer everywhere. I’m looking forward to seeing every new building in Scotland host a family of swifts in the future and I hope the legislation here will inspire lawmakers across the UK to get on with it and give swifts a home.
“It’s been frustrating watching Westminster take years to consider something so simple yet so important. The conversation on this has been good at Holyrood and while there were some challenges to getting this in place the government listened and we found a way through pretty quickly.”
Hannah Bourne-Taylor, who has campaigned for swift bricks nationally for four years, said: “Scotland has stood united for birds. What a landmark victory! To save Britain’s swifts, with fewer than 40,000 pairs remaining and the increasing loss of natural nesting habitat thanks to countless renovations and the massive government-funded insulation schemes that have no mitigation, England, Wales and Northern Ireland must follow Scotland’s lead.
“Come on Labour – you can’t offer some toothless guidance that won’t be followed to the scale needed, telling us it’s not possible to mandate swift bricks when Scotland’s just passed the law straight away.”
Although the national planning guidance now specifies that new developments should incorporate swift bricks unless there are “compelling technical reasons” that prevent their use or make them ineffective, this does not oblige developers or planning authorities to install the bricks. Even when swift boxes are required by planners, a University of Sheffield study found that 75% of bird and bat boxes demanded as a condition of planning permission for new housing had not been installed when the houses were finished.
Lord Goldsmith, who has tabled amendments in the House of Lords for mandatory swift bricks, said: “It’s only taken Scotland one month to decide to mandate swift bricks, proving how easy it would be for England to finally mandate too, after four years of asking, and upgrade the non-statutory guidance to ensure all new builds have swift bricks. Swifts need the rest of the UK to follow.”
The bricks will be introduced in Scotland after a 12-month consultation to ensure there is an appropriate building standard for the bricks, which, as well as providing nesting places for swifts, help other endangered cavity-nesting birds including sparrows, starlings and house martins.
The Welsh government rejected swift bricks last year, arguing that developers could use the bricks to argue they were meeting “net benefit for biodiversity” requirements without providing other nature-positive measures.
But wildlife campaigners say the bricks are a small but essential measure for swifts and other birds, which have lost access to millions of house roofs for nesting, thanks to renovations and modern insulation.
In Gibraltar, an important point on the swifts’ seasonal flyway between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, swift bricks have helped populations recover.
Prof John Cortes, the environment minister of Gibraltar, said: “Scotland’s decision on swift bricks is a significant step in ensuring the survival of this species, which has come to depend so much on us. On the ‘Rock’ we have had this policy for several decades and we have seen a declining population of swifts first stabilise and then increase.”
