The green quango Natural England has been accused of blocking 160,000 new homes and helping to push housebuilding to its lowest level since the 1920s.
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) has warned that Natural England’s actions, and recent changes to planning policy, threaten to reduce the number of new homes from 240,000 a year in 2018-19 to 111,000 by 2025.
Rules imposed by Natural England, the agency within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs responsible for protecting the landscape, have led 74 councils to block developments that could not show they would not pollute water systems.
Housebuilding is expected to be a dividing line at the next election after Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, promised in an interview with The Times last week to build on the green belt.
The “nutrient neutrality” guidelines, which originated from a 2018 European Court of Justice ruling, have blocked 120,000 new homes so far, according to the HBF. To get planning permission in affected areas, developers must show that new homes will not lead to more phosphates and nitrates running into rivers, feeding dangerous algae and toxic bacteria that stifle ecosystems.
Housebuilders believe that they are being unfairly punished and farmers, who produce large quantities of the nutrients from fertilisers and animal slurry, are excluded from the rules. Offsetting schemes, which turn agricultural land into new woodland and wetlands that suck up nutrients, can cost tens of thousands of pounds for a single home, making developments impracticable or pushing up house prices.
There are also not enough schemes. Ben Houchen, the mayor of Tees Valley, said that developers would need to offset an area “the size of Scotland” to meet demand for homes.
Natural England is also blocking an estimated 40,000 homes through “water neutrality” rules, which control abstraction of drinking water, and “recreational impact zones”, which have stopped homes because of fears that an influx of people could damage habitats.
This equates to a total of 160,000 new homes held back, a quarter of which would be affordable, the HBF said.
The HBF, which represents 80 per cent of the industry in England and Wales, said the economy had suffered to the tune of £27 billion, and that 500,000 fewer jobs were being supported thanks to Natural England.
Natural England expanded nutrient neutrality rules in February last year, more than doubling the areas to which they apply. Michael Gove, the housing secretary, has rushed out measures to break the deadlock, including £30 million in funding to design nutrient mitigation schemes and plans for a legal duty on water companies to upgrade wastewater treatment works by 2030.
Conservative politicians argue, however, that this response shows Gove has failed to grasp the scale of the problem. Simon Clarke, Gove’s predecessor, said: “The real causes of the water pollution problems are poor farming practices and our Victorian sewage system. Housebuilding is a peripheral contributor . . . We should legislate to exclude new homes from the regulations, get the water companies to up their game.”
Houchen said the rules had put 30,000 homes in South Tees, North Yorkshire and Durham at risk. “It seems the government has little control over Natural England,” he said.
The HBF said: “Ministers’ decision to cave in to the Nimby lobby and . . . Natural England represent another blow to our efforts to tackle the housing crisis.
“The health of our rivers is being threatened by agricultural practices and the shocking failure of water companies, but the government’s response is to block housebuilding. Four years into this fiasco, these bans on growth are having stark social and economic impacts and threaten to widen the ever growing intergenerational divide.”
A spokesman for the government said: “We must protect the environment and improve water quality while delivering the housing this country needs. We’re working closely with planning authorities affected by nutrient neutrality to provide more support and looking at what more we can do to mitigate nutrient pollution. These schemes will deliver clearer routes for developers in tackling nutrient pollution, and unlock construction of new sustainable homes.”
Yer same small old stuff. Rebuild on the brownfield sites first before asking for nice new green fields to be concreted over.
We have 4 new tower blocks near us on brown field sites and they can’t even finish those off for lack of supplies and labour shortages… so no idea what makes them think they have enough resources to build more.
I know Reddit loves to blame everything on NIMBY’s because it’s an easy thing to rage at, but the truth is a lot of complicated than that. If you genuinely care about more houses then go sit in on a council planning application and see how involved the process is.
How DARE they *checks notes* force house builders to prove they won’t pollute waterways and require habitat creation to offset the impact of paving over the land. Perhaps the water companies should try to build houses, the tories clearly don’t mind *them* poisoning rivers…
And as for the claim to be unfairly punished while farmers get away with it – that’s an argument to crack down on the impact of farming on wildlife, and not an argument to relax the rules for house building.
This article is some bullsh!t – it takes a defining failure of the current administration, and (uncritically quoting a group who are major donors to said administration) lays the blame variously at the feet of civil servants, the EU, and the next Labour government. Is it any wonder the current shower have absolutely no sense of accountability?
“Regulator does its job”
There you go editor of the Times, I fixed it for you
To be fair the houses we do build are so great we might as well not bother building any more.
New houses built not far from me. All 4-6 bedrooms. All at least £400k.
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__Natural England blamed for blocking new homes__
Plans for 160,000 properties fall foul of rules
The green quango Natural England has been accused of blocking 160,000 new homes and helping to push housebuilding to its lowest level since the 1920s.
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) has warned that Natural England’s actions, and recent changes to planning policy, threaten to reduce the number of new homes from 240,000 a year in 2018-19 to 111,000 by 2025.
Rules imposed by Natural England, the agency within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs responsible for protecting the landscape, have led 74 councils to block developments that could not show they would not pollute water systems.
Housebuilding is expected to be a dividing line at the next election after Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, promised in an interview with The Times last week to build on the green belt.
The “nutrient neutrality” guidelines, which originated from a 2018 European Court of Justice ruling, have blocked 120,000 new homes so far, according to the HBF. To get planning permission in affected areas, developers must show that new homes will not lead to more phosphates and nitrates running into rivers, feeding dangerous algae and toxic bacteria that stifle ecosystems.
Housebuilders believe that they are being unfairly punished and farmers, who produce large quantities of the nutrients from fertilisers and animal slurry, are excluded from the rules. Offsetting schemes, which turn agricultural land into new woodland and wetlands that suck up nutrients, can cost tens of thousands of pounds for a single home, making developments impracticable or pushing up house prices.
There are also not enough schemes. Ben Houchen, the mayor of Tees Valley, said that developers would need to offset an area “the size of Scotland” to meet demand for homes.
Natural England is also blocking an estimated 40,000 homes through “water neutrality” rules, which control abstraction of drinking water, and “recreational impact zones”, which have stopped homes because of fears that an influx of people could damage habitats.
This equates to a total of 160,000 new homes held back, a quarter of which would be affordable, the HBF said.
The HBF, which represents 80 per cent of the industry in England and Wales, said the economy had suffered to the tune of £27 billion, and that 500,000 fewer jobs were being supported thanks to Natural England.
Natural England expanded nutrient neutrality rules in February last year, more than doubling the areas to which they apply. Michael Gove, the housing secretary, has rushed out measures to break the deadlock, including £30 million in funding to design nutrient mitigation schemes and plans for a legal duty on water companies to upgrade wastewater treatment works by 2030.
Conservative politicians argue, however, that this response shows Gove has failed to grasp the scale of the problem. Simon Clarke, Gove’s predecessor, said: “The real causes of the water pollution problems are poor farming practices and our Victorian sewage system. Housebuilding is a peripheral contributor . . . We should legislate to exclude new homes from the regulations, get the water companies to up their game.”
Houchen said the rules had put 30,000 homes in South Tees, North Yorkshire and Durham at risk. “It seems the government has little control over Natural England,” he said.
The HBF said: “Ministers’ decision to cave in to the Nimby lobby and . . . Natural England represent another blow to our efforts to tackle the housing crisis.
“The health of our rivers is being threatened by agricultural practices and the shocking failure of water companies, but the government’s response is to block housebuilding. Four years into this fiasco, these bans on growth are having stark social and economic impacts and threaten to widen the ever growing intergenerational divide.”
A spokesman for the government said: “We must protect the environment and improve water quality while delivering the housing this country needs. We’re working closely with planning authorities affected by nutrient neutrality to provide more support and looking at what more we can do to mitigate nutrient pollution. These schemes will deliver clearer routes for developers in tackling nutrient pollution, and unlock construction of new sustainable homes.”
Yer same small old stuff. Rebuild on the brownfield sites first before asking for nice new green fields to be concreted over.
We have 4 new tower blocks near us on brown field sites and they can’t even finish those off for lack of supplies and labour shortages… so no idea what makes them think they have enough resources to build more.
I know Reddit loves to blame everything on NIMBY’s because it’s an easy thing to rage at, but the truth is a lot of complicated than that. If you genuinely care about more houses then go sit in on a council planning application and see how involved the process is.
How DARE they *checks notes* force house builders to prove they won’t pollute waterways and require habitat creation to offset the impact of paving over the land. Perhaps the water companies should try to build houses, the tories clearly don’t mind *them* poisoning rivers…
And as for the claim to be unfairly punished while farmers get away with it – that’s an argument to crack down on the impact of farming on wildlife, and not an argument to relax the rules for house building.
This article is some bullsh!t – it takes a defining failure of the current administration, and (uncritically quoting a group who are major donors to said administration) lays the blame variously at the feet of civil servants, the EU, and the next Labour government. Is it any wonder the current shower have absolutely no sense of accountability?
“Regulator does its job”
There you go editor of the Times, I fixed it for you
To be fair the houses we do build are so great we might as well not bother building any more.
New houses built not far from me. All 4-6 bedrooms. All at least £400k.
I can only imagine how spacious they are.