Homes built faster under Budget pollution scheme

HOUSE building is on course to be made easier under government plans to help developers meet a European courts environmental rule blamed for delaying the construction of 120,000 homes.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that today’s Budget will unveil a new drive aimed at easing the burden of so-called “nutrient neutrality” requirements.

The rule forces developers to detail the polluting impact of their proposals on rivers and waterways, and demands that mitigation measures are taken to secure planning permission.

Last March, the Home Builders Federation conducted an analysis which found that 120,000 homes are being delayed by the nutrient pollution issue.

The requirement dates back to a European Court of Justice ruling in 2018.

In today’s Budget, a new idea called local nutrient neutrality credit schemes will be floated, and a call for evidence on the proposal will be put out.

It would see local planning authorities come up with their own ways to mitigate the environmental impact of house building. The Treasury will open the door to funding such schemes, potentially helping developers meet their environmental obligations more quickly than would otherwise happen.

The measure will be portrayed by Government ministers as proof that the Tories are making efforts to increase house building after years of missing their national targets.

But some backbench Conservative ‘Nutrient Neutrality is bad policy in its own terms but also a classic example of EU law we ought to scrap ’ MPS have been calling for the nutrient neutrality rule to be ditched in its entirety – something Liz Truss had vowed to do as prime minister but is not yet endorsed by Rishi Sunak.

The Prime Minister has taken a personal interest in the nutrient neutrality rules and is understood to have read a number of internal government policy briefings about it.

Simon Clarke, a former levelling up secretary, said: “Nutrient neutrality is both bad policy in its own terms but also a classic example of the legacy EU law we ought to be scrapping.”