THE GOVERNMENT has announced it plans to ‘unblock’ housebuilding by amending the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill to remove the requirement for ‘nutrient neutrality’ on new housing developments.

The Government says the amended law will allow 100,000 homes to be built in the next 7 years, worth £18 million to the economy.

Nutrient Neutrality Law

‘Nutrient neutrality’ requires new housing designers and developers to prevent pollutants entering nearby waterways. Natural England issued guidance to 62 local authority areas that new development must be ‘nutrient neutral’. The guidance prevented developments from going ahead, including ones that had gained planning permission.

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.

Nutrients entering rivers are a real problem, but the contribution made by new homes is very small, according to Michael Gove, Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).

Executive Chairman of the Home Builders Federation, Stewart Baseley, said: “Housebuilding has been blocked despite wide acknowledgement that occupants of new homes are responsible for only a tiny fraction of the wastewater finding its ways into rivers and streams.”

‘‘With some areas having been blighted for four years, the prospect of a swift resolution will be much-needed good news for companies on the verge of going out of business, their employees and for households most affected by housing affordability pressures. Builders will be able to bring forward otherwise stalled investment in communities and get spades in the ground so we need Parliament to get this solution onto the statute book.”

Rather than housing, the Government says agriculture is the main pollutant of rivers. It has pledged £200m of funding to reduce run off from agriculture by improving slurry storage and investing in precision spreading equipment, as well as upgrading waste water treatment works.

New Environmental Measures

A series of new environmental measures to restore protected sites are announced, including a commitment to offset the “very small amount” of additional nutrients attributable to up to 100,000 new homes. These measures include further work on developing Protected Sites Strategies in the catchments most impacted by nutrient neutrality and with the most acute housing pressures. They will identify specific action needed to restore habitats and species in specific areas. The aim is to agree and implement tangible actions to reduce pollution at source, through nature-based solutions such as wetlands.

Water companies will be expected to upgrade wastewater treatment works by 2030 and there will be at least 4,000 inspections on farms each year to ensure slurry is spread in a way that minimises pollution of the water environment.

The government points to the experience of pollution in the Rivers Wye and Lugg in Herefordshire. These rivers have suffered considerable pollution from agricultural activity including poultry farming and the government is publishing a River Wye action plan this autumn to tackle the issues in the county.

Other actions planned center on ensuring new homes do not place undue stress on local water networks by consulting this year on new Sustainable Drainage Solutions requirements to reduce pressure on storm overflows from new homes and flood risk.

The nutrient reduction plan will help deliver the legal target to reduce nutrient runoff from agriculture by at least 40% by 2038.

Colin Wood, Story Homes CEO, said: “The plan unlocks over 4000 homes for our business …. Hundreds of jobs in the wider supply chain will be safeguarded as a result.”

The environmental measures announced today lead on from the Government’s Plan for Water published in April which set out actions to address all sources of water pollution, including through bringing forward £2.2bn of water company infrastructure investment to prevent storm overflow discharges and improve drought resilience, and unlimited fines for environmental polluters.

>> Read more about nutrient neutrality in the news

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