Nature not a blocker to housing growth, inquiry finds | UK news

An investigation by MPs has found that nature is not a barrier to housing growth, in direct contradiction to ministers’ claims.

Toby Perkins, Labor chairman of the environmental audit committee, said nature was being scapegoated and was needed to build resilient towns and neighborhoods rather than being a hindrance to growth.

In its report on environmental sustainability and housing growth, the cross-party committee challenged the “lazy narrative” promoted by UK government ministers that nature is obstructive or disruptive to housing provision.

The report said serious skills shortages in ecology, planning and construction would make it impossible for the government to meet its housing construction targets.

Perkins said: “The Government’s target to build 1.5 million homes by the end of this parliament is incredibly ambitious. Achieving this target, alongside our existing targets on climate and sustainability set out in law, will require an effort on an unprecedented scale.”

“This simply cannot be achieved by scapegoating nature as ‘barriers’ to housing delivery. We are clear in our report: A healthy environment is essential to building resilient towns and cities. This should not be left aside.”.”

Experts say the planning and infrastructure bill – in its final stages before becoming law – rolls back environmental law to eliminate the need for developers to pay into a central nature recovery fund for improvements elsewhere, eliminating the need to survey and mitigate on-site any environmental damage.

Ecologists, environmental groups and some lawmakers are pushing for changes to the bill to keep protections for wildlife and rare habitats intact. But Steve Reed, the secretary of state for housing, told MPs to reject the changes in a House of Commons vote on the bill this week.

The committee said it had concerns that the legislation would mean the government would miss its statutory target of halting the degradation of nature by 2030 and reversing it by 2042.

The report found that local planning authorities were seriously under-resourced in ecological skills. Evidence was heard that staff at Natural England were “stretched to their limits” and that the skills required to deliver the ecological aspects of reform planning were “not available at the scale, quality or capacity needed”.

This means Natural England will take on a key role in planning under government changes. The body will oversee the national nature restoration fund, which will be funded by developers and allow builders to avoid environmental liabilities on a particular site, even if it is a protected area for wildlife.

Critics of the bill have questioned the conflict of interest in awarding Natural England new funds from developers while waiting for the body to regulate its actions.