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‘The hypocrisy is staggering’: will swift bricks fall prey to government fears of Reform? (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 week ago by GreyShuck@feddit.uk to c/nature@feddit.uk

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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.

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[–] bedbeard@feddit.uk 3 points 1 week ago

is £35 a high cost for one of these? It would be 1 per property, sounds alright to me.

For your other questions I think this paragraph suggests they are good to go really (not sure about cleaning, do people clean out bird boxes?):

According to Bourne-Taylor, multibillion profit-making housebuilders have signalled in high-level government meetings they have no objections to the bricks, which are widely made by conventional brick manufacturers. There is already a British Standard for them, which means there’s no government investment required for development, guidance or standardisation.