Developers met ministers dozens of times over planning bill while ecologists were shut out

Exclusive: Leading ecologists say warnings over threat to wildlife have been ignored in drive to build 1.5m new homes

The scale of lobbying of ministers by developers on Labour’s landmark planning changes, which seek to rip up environmental rules to boost growth, can be exposed as campaigners make last-ditch attempts to secure protections for nature.

The government published its planning and infrastructure bill in March. Before and after the bill’s publication the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and housing minister Matthew Pennycook have met dozens of developers in numerous meetings. The body representing professional ecologists, meanwhile, has not met one minister despite requests to do so.

The government’s planning bill will reach its final stages before it is given royal assent in the coming days, after months of tussling between ministers, nature groups and ecologists.

The government has promised to rip up the rules to allow 1.5m homes to be built by the end of this parliament as part of its push for growth.