Nature is not a blocker to housing growth, MPs find

Nature is not a barrier to housing growth and the government risks missing both housing and nature targets if it views it as a whole, a cross-party group of MPs has warned in a new report.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill overrides existing habitat protections, which the government argues hinder its target of building 1.5 million homes by the end of this parliament.

But in a report published on Sunday, the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) found that the measures outlined in the bill were not sufficient to achieve the government’s goals.

“Using nature as a scapegoat means the government will be less effective at tackling some of the real challenges facing the planning system,” the report said.

A Ministry of Housing spokesman said they were fixing a failing system with landmark reforms that would deliver win-win for the economy and the environment.

The Labor government has pledged to build 1.5 million new homes in England by 2029 as part of efforts to solve the housing crisis and boost economic growth.

As part of the housing reforms, he wants to simplify the planning system to speed up the construction of houses in smaller areas. overriding existing habitat and nature protections.

If passed, the draft legislation, which is currently in its final stages in parliament, would instead allow developers to make general environmental improvements and pay into a nature restoration fund that improves habitat in other areas.

But the EAC argued that nature was not a “hindrance” to housing provision, but a necessity for building resilient neighbourhoods.

The EAC called on the government to instead focus on addressing skills shortages in ecology, planning and construction.

“The government should not deviate from viewing nature as a nuisance or an obstacle to housing construction,” the report said.

“In many cases, housing delivery is delayed or made difficult due to unclear and conflicting policies, land banking and skills shortages.”

The EAC has suggested offering better incentives for people to build and live in “carbon-friendly homes” or to renovate existing homes.

It outlined a series of recommendations aimed at improving the manufacturing viability of green construction products and shifting the tax burden to support environmentally friendly homes.

Environmental group Friends of the Earth said the government needed to set the right priorities.

Paul De Zylva, nature campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “This report shows that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is a bad piece of legislation that neither delivers the quality homes people need nor truly protects our already depleted nature.

“The government would be better off focusing on achieving its legal objectives for nature, which is at risk of being hijacked, rather than attacking newts, bats and our laws of nature to justify a growth-at-all-costs agenda.”

A Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “The government has inherited a failed system that has delayed new homes and infrastructure without doing anything to help nature recover.

“We are fixing this with landmark reforms, including the Nature Restoration Fund, which will create a win-win for the economy and the environment.

“This will enable Britain to build the 1.5 million homes we desperately need to reignite the dream of homeownership, not at the expense of nature.”