CLC Writes to Gove on Environmental Controls Causing Housing Planning Delays

THE CONSTRUCTION LEADERSHIP COUNCIL (CLC) has expressed its ‘growing concern’ about the impact of ‘nutrient neutrality’ controls on housing planning delays in Somerset, Kent, the Solent and other areas.

Nutrient neutrality controls are designed to prevent the release of reactive nitrogen (Nr) into the environment when new housing developments are built.

The letter asks for early government intervention to prevent stopping orders imposed by local planning authorities on new planning applications.

Planning Delays

CLC says the delivery of an estimated 40,000 homes is now delayed in 35 English Local Authorities, and the future delivery of 25,000 homes a year in these areas is also in jeopardy. It says delays to developments are also holding up essential infrastructure, all forms of housing, including affordable and rural as well as a wider impact on local economies including the construction supply chain.

CLC argues the impact is disproportionately affecting new housing and other developments even though they contribute a small part of the nutrients pollution threat to habitats.

It says that while the CLC supports the government 25 Year Environment Plan, short and longer-term solutions to housing and commercial development need to be found. It asserts that the immediate focus for local authorities to identify land to provide mitigating projects is not happening quickly enough and house building is being delayed.

Environmental Controls

CLC points out the land required for providing mitigation is a problem. In Somerset, for example, it is calculated that to clear the backlog of 11,000 homes delayed by this issue, it would require 630 hectares of land to provide wetlands (providing mitigation through wetlands is the least land-hungry option).

The four Somerset local planning authorities need to deliver 2,720 homes a year needing about another 150 hectares of land to be turned over to wetland, each year, for the foreseeable future at an estimated cost of £5,000 per dwelling.

Mitigation

CLC wants the guidance issued by Natural England to be adjusted to weigh-up the costs associated with the small release of nutrients in the short term, against the wider public-interest benefits of housebuilding and other development.

In the longer-term, a solution should recognise the negligible amounts of nutrient pollution caused by new housing and commercial projects and find other means of reducing the nutrient pollution, such as farming, as well as upgrading of waste-water treatment.

You can read the CLC letter here.

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