On more than 50 occasions over the past three years, Hannah Bourne-Taylor has lugged an oversized brick through the parliament’s security screening.
Security staff know her fondly as “the swift brick lady”. But now Bourne-Taylor is having to ruffle political feathers over what appears the simplest of nature-friendly measures – a small legal clause requiring all new dwellings to include a £35 hollow brick, providing homes for endangered cavity-nesting birds including swifts, house martins, sparrows and starlings.
After walking naked except for a thong through London – twice – to raise awareness of the plight of swifts, winning a parliamentary debate and cross-party support for the brick, Bourne-Taylor is facing her greatest foe yet: a Labour government terrified of voters defecting to Reform.
As someone who spends an inordinate amount of their life reviewing planning applications, it’s notable that most new properties include swift bricks (and bat bricks) pretty much at standard now, even without the regulations. They’re incredibly cheap and entirely non-obtrusive; from a conservation point of view it’s a no brainer.
I imagine most that don’t include it is more through either laziness or ignorance rather than a strategic choice to omit them. Having them in the regulations would seem an easy win.