The government has announced a plan that it says will unblock housebuilding to deliver homes for local communities while protecting the environment.
The government claims that over 100,000 homes held up due to defective EU laws will be unblocked between now and 2030, delivering an estimated £18bn boost to the economy.
The Tory-led administration says that currently, legacy EU laws on nutrient neutrality are blocking the delivery of new homes, including cases where planning permission has already been granted. Nutrients entering our rivers are a real problem, but the contribution made by new homes is very small. These laws which originate from Brussels put a block on new homes in certain areas – taking away control over what is built, and when, from local people.
Through an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, the government says it will do away with this red tape and allow for the delivery of more than 100,000 new homes desperately needed by local communities. Thanks to the government’s action, it is expected that developers could begin construction on these homes in a matter of months.
The move comes alongside new environmental measures that will tackle pollution at source and restore habitats. This includes significantly expanding investment in and evolving the Nutrient Mitigation Scheme run by Natural England, doubling investment to £280m to ensure it is sufficient to offset the very small amount of additional nutrient discharge attributable to up to 100,000 homes between now and 2030.
Natural England will work with local authorities, the private sector and others to tackle nutrient pollution and work towards the long term health and resilience of the river systems.
The government intends to work with the housebuilding industry to ensure that larger developers make an appropriate and fair contribution to this scheme over the coming years, and is discussing the right structure and approach with the Home Builders Federation.
The government will then accelerate work on full site restoration through further work on new Protected Site Strategies, which Natural England will draw up in partnership with local communities to set protected sites on the path to recovery in the most affected catchments with the highest housing demand.
The housing secretary, Michael Gove, said: “We are committed to building the homes this country needs and to enhancing our environment. The way EU rules have been applied has held us back. These changes will provide a multi-billion pound boost for the UK economy and see us build more than 100,000 new homes.
“Protecting the environment is paramount which is why the measures we’re announcing today will allow us to go further to protect and restore our precious waterways whilst still building the much-needed homes this country needs.
“We will work closely with environmental agencies and councils as we deliver these changes.”
The Government insists it has a strong record on housebuilding, with more than 2.2 million homes delivered since 2010. The secretary of state for housing recently set out his long-term plan to go even further and unlock more development across the country.
Responding to the proposed reforms by the UK government to existing planning laws, Sam Rees, senior public affairs officer at RICS, said: “RICS welcomes greater clarity, which this amendment in the Levelling-Up Bill provides and should help tackle planning backlogs – something RICS members have repeatedly referenced as a barrier in creating new homes. Overcoming these existing bottlenecks is crucial for meeting housebuilding targets, although we recognise that this cannot come at the detriment of the environment.
“The UK needs further investment towards mitigation and treatment works in our waterways, as well as a push to build greener, more energy-efficient homes that significantly limits resulting pollution
