Call for habitat enhancements such as ‘bee bricks’ on all new Worthing buildings

Edward Crouch (Con, Marine) has submitted a motion to Worthing Borough Council to ask for the change and this was seconded by Hazel Thorpe (LDem, Tarring).

Helen Silman (Lab, Heene), who sits on the planning committee, helped to draft the motion.

If it is accepted, the motion could be discussed by one of the council’s committees.

It reads: “While natural habitats continue to decline, this council supports the introduction of enhanced habitat features into the built environment by requiring their inclusion in all new buildings in the borough.”

Examples of such features could include bee bricks and swift boxes.

The motion says these are needed to help combat habitat loss as a result of increased urbanisation, climate change, and pollution.

It also asks for an ‘options report’ to explore how the scheme can be included in planning policies.

Mr Crouch, who is WBC’s executive member for digital  and environmental services, said he had been inspired by Brighton and Hove councillor and bee-keeper Robert Nemeth.

Mr Nemeth asked Brighton and Hove City Council to require habitats like bee bricks and swift boxes on all new buildings several years ago and this has now come into force.

Mr Crouch said: “I didn’t know that such a thing as a bee brick was easily available.

“Councillor Nemeth’s success in Brighton blew up and raised the profile of the topic.

“Whilst I think organisations and developers are getting much better at things like triple glazing, solar panels, and EV charging points, none of that stuff has that direct impact on a colony of bees, for example, if you come in and remove their habitat.”

Mr Crouch said the measures would ‘have to be proportional’, requiring different levels of habitat enhancement from developments of different sizes – from a single house to a large office building.

“Clearly, we wouldn’t want an environmental measure to prevent a development from being able to proceed if we made it too onerous,” he said, “You’ve got to find something in the middle.”

Mr Crouch said he was ‘pleased’ the motion had gained cross-party support.

“If we as a society have got any hope of making significant changes to the way we live and exist, it can’t be seen as partisan,” he said.

Although the proposal has gained support from across the political spectrum, scientists disagree over the use of bee bricks.

An article which appeared in The Guardian saw Dave Goulson, a University of Sussex professor, and other scientists disagreeing about the benefits.

Professor Goulson feared the bricks could be used as ‘greenwash’ by developers while Sebastian Worms, a graduate of the University of Louvain, Belgium, said that the bricks could have a negative impact if they were ‘too big’ and ‘not cleaned enough’.

However, an ecology professor at the University of Nottingham said cleaning the bricks was not required.

As the benefits and risks have not yet been fully explored, Lars Chittka of Queen Mary University advised against a country-wide roll out of bee bricks, instead recommending that the Brighton project be studied further.

Mr Crouch said it was for precisely this reason that he didn’t want to focus on bee bricks alone.

“As with anything scientific there’s always differences of opinion,” he said, “so we’ve given our officers a little bit more scope to go away and look at what the options are.

“Because you’ve got bee bricks and swift boxes and I’m quite certain there are other things I’ve never heard of.”