Yahoo Finance Waitrose told to use bird-friendly bricks in first housing project
Waitrose has been told by the RSPB to use bird-friendly bricks to build its new housing scheme, as Dame Sharon White comes under pressure to deliver on her plans to cut John Lewis's reliance on retail.
The supermarket is aiming to create 350 homes above its Waitrose store in Bromley, as part of a host of housing schemes designed to help diversify John Lewis.
Waitrose had previously said it will give a public update on the scheme by May with planning permission expected to be submitted "in the spring".
Wildlife campaigners have now moved to seek fresh pledges for the scheme ahead of the formal submission, with claims the project is located nearby to a known colony of swifts.
Swifts are on the UK's Red List of endangered birds. They cannot nest in house swallow bird boxes, and the council has in recent years been pushing to get more developments using so-called swift bricks, which are hollow and include small openings for swifts.
In a letter to Bromley Council, the RSPB said a condition of the planning permission should include "installation of integral swift nest bricks... and that the proposal for these be submitted prior to the commencement of above ground works". It said the placing of the bricks should be decided "with the advice of a suitably qualified ecologist".
An RSPB spokesman said: "Swifts are in trouble, having declined by 60pc between 1995 and 2020 in the UK, and so we can all play a role in helping to reverse this by providing new nest sites."
A John Lewis Partnership spokesman said: "Protecting and increasing local biodiversity is integral to our proposals for our Bromley site. A key priority in our plans, that we will work on with the RSPB, is the provision of nesting sites for swifts, house sparrows and other birds."
The push around wildlife pledges comes as another of Waitrose's housing schemes has faced scrutiny. At its project in West Ealing, some local residents have been hugely critical of the height of the planned project.
Chris Mason, the leader of Ealing Council, earlier this year said the scheme felt "like a big institution is trying to twist arms and bully through a scheme that could be far better through a precarious planning process using the ever-present threat of an appeal".
John Lewis at the time played down the row, saying there was "always a bit of argy-bargy" in high profile schemes. It said it had given a "great deal" of thought to the project and was "continuing our conversation with the council and local people in helping to shape our plans".
The two projects are seen as central to Dame Sharon's ambitions to find new revenue streams for the partnership. By 2030, John Lewis has said it will make 40pc of its profits outside retail.
Dame Sharon has, however, recently been facing pressure from staff over her strategy, after John Lewis scrapped its staff bonus for only the second time in its history following losses widening by £82m last year.
In a vote among JLP's 58-strong employee council earlier this month, staff said they did not have confidence in the company’s performance under her leadership over the past year.