Swift bricks are becoming more common in planning conditions, ecology reports and Local Plans, with some local authorities such as Brighton & Hove requiring swift bricks in almost all suitable new developments awarded planning permission.
However, artificial nest cups (ANCs) are still a rarity, and there are a few reasons for this which I’ll explain below.
When trying to achieve the installation of ANCs in new developments, there are several factors to bear in mind.
In summary, for ANCs your comments should ideally be orientated around local records, especially breeding records, e.g. refer to the House Martin Mapper app. Local bird records such as the annual bird report might be available or, where relevant, local nature reserves may publish their sightings and breeding records.
This is unlike swift bricks, where comments can be based on local records but can equally be focused on national policy and swift bricks as a universal nest brick used by common swift, house sparrows, starlings, other common garden birds and, occasionally, house martins.
England’s had national planning policy guidance for swift bricks since 2019. Unfortunately artificial nest cups for house martins have no such policy support.
Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) are the outstanding opportunity in England at the moment, being produced by 48 local authorities typically on a county or city basis:
These are required by the Environment Act, and Local Plans legally must consider them but you’ll need to be quick – West of England combined authority’s LNRS is already published (that covers the Bristol and Bath area).
LNRS have limitations as they relate to mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) – it’s complicated but they’re effectively funded by developers gaining extra BNG points by creating and improving habitat in designated areas. This could be very beneficial for foraging and availability of mud for nest building because meadows and water bodies, for example, do score points in the BNG “metric” (that’s the method of calculation, set by DEFRA).
However, the hope is that because LNRS include priority species, these will include house martins and other building-dependent birds. The LNRS can refer to provision of new nest sites, and even protection of existing nest sites, and this will at least filter through to Local Plans and other policies, and perhaps have a more direct impact too.
Most draft LNRS already designate common swift as a priority species, partly because it represents an “assemblage” of building-dependent birds, with swift bricks being a common measure for all those species.
House martins can use swift bricks too, although so far only the Schwegler 1A type has been noted to be successful, so that designation has limited benefit at present.
Unlike swift bricks which are designed to be a universal nest brick, ANCs are usually designed to be exclusively for house martins, due to competition from more assertive species such as house sparrows.
Therefore there is less value installing ANCs in areas where house martins are not present, and have little prospect of colonising, e.g. densely developed city centres.
Also, buildings need to have deep eaves or suitable gable ends for ANCs to be successful and not be subject to predation.
Therefore, unlike swift bricks, some care needs to be taken to choose promising sites for ANCs rather than applying a default requirement for all developments.
However, some LNRS are designating house martin as a priority species, and also biodiversity strategies can feature house martins and unlock funding for ANCs in key locations and/ or awareness raising, for example.
Your comments on planning applications which are affecting a particular population could limit development or, more likely, require mitigation measures.
Although not necessarily in Local Plans, planners will often consider local populations, and developers will often gladly comply – if it will help them achieve planning permission.
In conclusion, if you’re in England then contact your local LNRS (an online search for your county or city should easily find their website) and tell them that you are concerned about house martins (provide any local knowledge that you can), and ask them to keep you in touch. Complete any surveys that are open.
Sign up to your local council emailing list (a planning-specific one if they have it), so that you find out about any consultations. A useful tip is to use Google to find relevant pages on your council website, usually much more effective than council search features!
Ask your local councillor what the planning authority is doing for house martins to open up a line of communication, and find who will be enthusiastic and support your cause – there’s more often a sympathetic councillor or officer than you might expect. There’s unlikely to be a magic bullet but see what happens.
Finally if you do see particularly relevant applications then contact HMCUK-IE for advice – although it’s less effective than policy change there’s still some scope to influence planners on a case-by-case basis.
Good luck!
Mike
