Chris Packham gives his views on housebuilding in Kent

Transcript

00:00Kent is an area where lots of people live, and we need houses for more people to live there.

00:06So what we're going to see in the next few years is a lot of proposals for development.

00:11I think we need to be realistic and we need to be critical.

00:14We need those new houses, but we need the right houses built in the right way, put in the right place.

00:20So let's think about right houses to start with.

00:22They should all have solar roofs, they should all be insulated to a very high standard,

00:26which currently house building standards in the UK don't require.

00:30What's the point of building a house and then people not being able to afford to heat it due to an energy crisis?

00:35Grey water. We know we're going to face water shortages in the future.

00:38So water storage, where you collect water from the roof to use for flushing your toilet, etc., is really important.

00:45We should be transitioning to electric vehicles at this point.

00:49They're not going to save the world, but certainly having a charging point on those houses where appropriate should be mandatory.

00:55And then, you know, considering biodiversity, both, you know, the impact of building the houses in the first place

01:00and also how we can sculpt the gardens and green spaces amongst those houses to satisfy biodiversity going forward.

01:07And that's not just about Chris wanting lots of wildlife.

01:10That's about people having access for dog walking, walking, mental health, physical health, exercise, so on and so forth.

01:17So we know how to build good houses. We know how to build them well.

01:21And we know really we know where they should go.

01:24But I do fear that at some point we're going to be asking to put them in the wrong place with the wrong types of mitigation.

01:29And at that point, we do have to stand up and say, look, this is not a good idea.