Nesting swifts have become the latest casualty of West Berkshire Council’s budget woes after a proposal to install swift boxes on council-owned buildings was ruled too costly in time and cash.
Officers say there are 235 council buildings and that fitting boxes across all suitable sites would top half a million pounds.
“The boxes generally cost between £20 and £150 depending on the material, size and mounting design,” said the council’s response to Green leader David Marsh’s motion. “Technology to add audio lures generally costs between £64 to £120 for the hardware, in addition they require a mains electricity supply.
“To install these on all existing suitable council-owned buildings would require budget to be allocated for this purpose. “There is no available budget for this purpose.”
The council added that audio lures, used to speed adoption of swift bricks (which can still take 12 to 24 months to be occupied), can prompt complaints. “The development of a project to establish suitable council-owned buildings and to source a supplier/contractor to install these would require resource allocation,” it said. “At present there is no capacity for such a project in the forthcoming financial year.”
Mr Marsh urged the council to note that swifts, one of the oldest species on earth, fly thousands of miles (spending up to three years on the wing) to breed in the UK. “Increasingly, they are finding their nesting sites blocked up,” he said.
“Their ancient forests with nest hollows now gone, they rely on cavities in buildings, but these too are disappearing, leaving this iconic creature on theRSPB ‘red list’ of endangered species.
“Swifts just need a brick with a hole in it to nest. “The average two-storey new house contains 20,000 bricks and swift bricks – costing an estimated £30 each – can help save swifts, as well as other small nesting birds.”
Swifts have suffered a 60 per cent population decline since 1995, mainly because traditional nesting sites in older buildings have been lost. Swift bricks — which create integral cavities in new or renovated structures — offer a low-cost, long-term habitat and also help other declining birds such as house sparrows, martins and starlings.
National policy support is growing: the draft NPPF (2025) explicitly encourages integrated nest boxes for priority species including swifts. Locally, the West Berkshire Local Plan Review (2023–2041) requires biodiversity enhancements, though it does not specifically mandate swift bricks. Swift bricks cannot be counted toward Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) calculations as they are considered artificial features.
The local planning authority said it will continue to secure swift bricks and boxes “where appropriate and justified” and that consideration can be given to more specific policy wording through the next Local Plan, due in 2041.
Niki Hinman, Local Democracy Reporter
