Chris Packham: Chain yourself to trees or block a bulldozer to save green belt
The BBC presenter and campaigner accused Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves of creating a 'culture war' around bats and newts with plans that will line the pockets of developers.
Packham said ordinary people must take radical action to preserve Britain's green belt.
The Government plans to build 1.5 million homes under this parliament, with villages in the green belt stripped of protections against excessive development.
Speaking about the Planning and Infrastructure Bill going through Parliament, Packham said: 'If that Bill goes through, we are in deep trouble, and frankly you need to get your chains out because you will need to be tying yourself to trees and you will be needing to sit down in front of bulldozers because that's the only way we're going to stop it.
'Why this government thinks there aren't people who won't do that, I honestly don't know.
'Why are we tolerating a government which is hell-bent on doing something enormously destructive and dangerous to the things we love most?'
'Shout above the noise'
During an appearance at the Hay Festival, in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, Packham said those who did not want to risk arrest should find their own way of protesting.
'You don't have to sit in the road. You don't have to get arrested. You simply have to shout above the noise and this is a time when we will have to do that.'
He previously presented a television programme called Is It Time To Break The Law? in which he concluded that radical protest is 'the ethically responsible thing to do'.
The Government wants to change the planning rules to speed up the building of housing developments.
Sir Keir and Ms Reeves have vowed to make it easier for developers to push ahead with projects which have been held up by concerns about wildlife.
They have been backed by Angela Rayner, the Housing Secretary, who led the way to overhaul green rules that prevent house building in the countryside.
The Prime Minister has said that the Government's new 'common sense approach doesn't allow newts or bats to be more important than the home hard-working people need'.
The Chancellor has said new plans will enable developers 'to focus on getting things built and stop worrying over the bats and the newts'.
Packham said: 'Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer started a culture war against newts and bats, and they chose newts and bats as totemic symbols because these animals are afforded legal protection.'
The Government wants to build homes 'that we don't need, to drive economic growth… through a sector which is one of the most greedy bunch of capitalists that you could ever come across anywhere'.
He pointed to figures shared by Rosie Pearson, of the Community Planning Alliance, showing that there are 1.5 million derelict homes in the UK that could be renovated and tens of thousands of commercial properties that could be repurposed.
'The housing crisis is one of affordability. It's not planning, as the Government says. People can't afford their homes.'
Packham shared a stage at the Hay Festival with Kevin McCloud, the Grand Designs presenter, who said the British have a 'small island mentality' and should follow the lead of countries in Europe where there are successful eco-housing projects with allotments and communal green spaces.
'When people build these days, they talk about the need for space: 'I need a spacious room'. They don't talk about connection – having that view, having that amazing piece of biodiversity outside your window.
'We build these houses on single plots with four walls which is the most inefficient way to build in terms of thermal loss. We build them around the country giving everybody their little fiefdom,' McCloud said.
'What we need to do is send Angela Rayner around Europe for three years. It's a small island mentality that we have. We can't understand what is possible.'
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