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

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (3 children)

So these and a couple other types of bricks I've seen (ones with multiple holes to for masonry bees(?)), have surprisingly high costs for what they are.

While I don't take issue with the stated reasoning for the inclusions of the bricks; I am curious why the the cost is so high, and by extension, who (if anyone) is profiting off of the high costs of the bricks?

If the these become required, will every brick manufacturer be able to produce them, bringing the price of them down?

Are there any obvious unforseen issues with using them?

Is there a limit on their lifespan?

Do they need cleaning by the homeowner?

Fundementally, I think if there aren't any glaring flaws with the requirement for these then this would be an easy win for Labor to add

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month 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.

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