Housing: Bricks
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to consult on proposals to require (a) swift and (b) bat bricks to be incorporated into new buildings.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook
The government recognises that swift bricks are a vital means of addressing the long-term decline of the breeding swift population. While swift brick coverage is increasing, we made clear during the passage of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that we were committed to doing more to drive up swift brick installation.
The government is currently consulting on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), including a new policy that would require all developments to include swift bricks into their construction unless compelling technical reasons would prevent their use or make them ineffective.
This is a significant strengthening of expectations already in place and we expect the end result to be at least one swift brick in every new brick built house unless there are legitimate reasons why installation would not be appropriate.
The consultation on changes to the NPPF is available on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
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