Swifts are almost entirely dependent on buildings for nesting in Britain, making urban development a direct welfare and conservation threat to one of our most iconic summer visitors.
Each swift is a long-lived individual that invests enormously in returning to a proven nest site year after year. When that site is renovated without replacement provision, the bird loses its reproductive opportunity for that season - or permanently if no alternative is found. At a population level, the loss of millions of nest sites across Britain's ageing building stock explains the dramatic decline. Swift bricks are cheap, effective, and permanent - the welfare case for mandatory inclusion in all relevant developments is compelling and well within the capacity of planning policy to deliver.