An amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, currently going through parliament, will remove the requirement for developers to demonstrate nutrient neutrality for their schemes.
Excess nutrient in waterways leads to green algae, destroying habitats and wildlife. However, most of the troublesome nitrates come agriculture 鈥� 聽from an accumulation of chemical fertilisers in the soil 鈥� not construction.
Rulings from the Court of Justice of the European Union in 2019 put a new interpretation on how the Habitats Directive should be interpreted. This prompted Natural England to issue new guidance in June 2019. House-building ground to a halt in 74 local authority areas where river catchments fed in to protects wetlands.
The government hopes that ending the nutrient neutrality requirement will mean developers can begin construction on their blocked homes within a few months.聽聽聽
To address pollution concerns, the government says that it will double its investment in Natural England鈥檚 nascent Nutrient Mitigation Scheme to 拢280m. 聽The government hopes to work with the house-building industry to get larger developers to make 鈥渁n appropriate and fair contribution to this scheme over the coming years.
It is also upping payments to farmers from 拢34m to 拢200m in grants for improved slurry storage infrastructure and precision spreading equipment to reduce run-off.
Secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities Michael Gove said: 鈥淲e 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.聽聽
鈥淧rotecting the environment is paramount which is why the measures we鈥檙e 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.聽聽
鈥淲e will work closely with environmental agencies and councils as we deliver these changes.鈥澛犅犅�
The environmental measures announced today lead on from the Government鈥檚 Plan for Water published in April which set out actions to address all sources of water pollution, including through accelerating 拢2.2bn of water company infrastructure investment to prevent storm overflow discharges and improve drought resilience, and unlimited fines for environmental polluters.聽聽
The current EU-derived regulations have required Natural England to issue guidance to 62 local authority areas that new development must be 鈥榥utrient neutral鈥� in their area, including Somerset, Norfolk, Teesside, Kent, Wiltshire and the Solent. This has blocked or delayed new development 鈥� including around a large number of homes that already have planning permission and local communities have already said they want.聽聽
The amendment today will remove this requirement, allowing Natural England greater freedom to develop catchment-specific solutions to the causes of nutrient pollution in partnership with each community, supported by government and private investment.聽聽
Industry reaction
Richard Beresford, chief executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said: 鈥淭he government has been getting the nutrient neutrality strategy wrong for five years and therefore it is correct that they reassess their approach. Despite housebuilding not being the major polluter and implementing many strategies, have been bending over backwards to reduce pollution. We hope this is the start of a process which fixes the pollution issue and doesn鈥檛 disproportionately blame and tax the housebuilding industry.鈥�
Lawrence Turner, director of Boyer (part of Leaders Romans Group), said: 鈥淭he government鈥檚 announcement this morning could unblock over 100,000 homes via a proposed amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. This could see developers breaking ground on these new housing projects within mere months.
鈥淚ndeed, while it's important to acknowledge the environmental issue of river nutrient levels, the small contribution from new housing developments is wildly disproportionate to the current nutrient neutrality laws.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 announcement will unlock the delivery of new homes, many of which have already been consented by local authorities. This will hopefully enable new homes to be constructed without the need for developers to fallow large swathes of farmland that takes valuable agricultural land out of production.鈥�
Barratt Developments chief executive David Thomas said: 鈥淎s the leading national sustainable house-builder, we welcome the government鈥檚 commitment to tackle the disproportionate rules preventing much-needed and efficient new homes from being built including 2,500 Barratt currently has stalled. Alongside plans to mitigate the relatively limited impact of new build housing, we welcome the further commitment to tackling nutrient pollution at source in agriculture and industry and the much needed planned improvements in our water infrastructure.鈥�
Taylor Wimpey chief executive Jennie Daly said: 鈥淲e are pleased that the government is proposing to address this important issue and is taking steps to reduce barriers to development. This will help deliver the country鈥檚 much needed new homes, which make a significant contribution to the wider economy.鈥�
Story Homes chief executive Colin Wood said: 鈥淪tory Homes welcome today鈥檚 government announcement which is monumental for house-building impacted by nutrient neutrality. The plan unlocks over 4000 homes for our business creating a huge boost for the local economies and supply chains, all whilst facilitating delivery of much needed housing. Hundreds of jobs in the wider supply chain will be safeguarded as a result. The approach from the government achieves all this whilst delivering significant environmental measures to tackle the nutrient issue at source.鈥�
The other side
Those who are more interested in combatting pollution than building houses have a noticeably different perspective. The Rivers Trust said: 鈥淭he latest plans to rip up water pollution rules show, once again, that our government is backtracking on the environment and taking decisions that abandon previous commitments and promises, and ones which our European neighbours enjoy. We do not need to choose between new homes and clean water, we can have both.
鈥淣ow is the time to develop homes responsibly, working with house builders who want to find positive solutions to achieving nutrient neutrality. Our own specialists have demonstrated how nature based solutions across catchments can solve our nutrient problems, whilst also tackling climate change and declining nature - let鈥檚 use them. The government must show the way, by keeping hold of legal protections and retaining the principle of the polluter pays, rather than the taxpayer pays, so that water companies and house-builders invest in natural solutions to protect our precious waterways while delivering modern, functional homes.鈥�
Paul Miner, head of campaigns and policy at CPRE, said: 鈥淲e recognise the need for new, affordable and energy efficient homes. But they should not be delivered at the expense of our natural environment.
鈥淢ichael Gove鈥檚 plans to relax nutrient neutrality rules represent a huge threat to our waterways, a fundamental feature of our countryside as well as a vital wildlife habitat and vanguard against the extremes of climate change.
鈥淣et nutrient neutrality rules exist to prevent developers from cutting corners and to promote best practice. It鈥檚 a crucial measure that ensures that new homes are delivered in a way that doesn鈥檛 add to an already toxic maelstrom of environmental crises.
鈥淲hen measures like net nutrient neutrality cease to be statutory in planning, they鈥檙e invariably discarded by most developers, with taxpayers set to foot the environmental burden of new homes instead.
鈥淲e need stronger enforcement of the rules over both the farming and housebuilding sectors. For the sake of our countryside and natural environment, we urge Michael Gove to rethink these damaging and regressive proposals.鈥�
Clean water campaigner Feargal Sharkey said: 鈥淎 very close friend of mine has just sent me a text, 鈥榃hat has this government got against clean water?鈥� Damned good question.鈥�
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