Nature is not an obstacle to housing growth, research shows | British news

Nature is not an obstacle to the growth of the housing market, according to a study by parliamentarians, in direct conflict with this claims by ministers.

Toby Perkins, Labor chairman of the environmental audit committee, said nature is being scapegoated, and rather than being a barrier to growth, nature is necessary for building resilient cities and neighbourhoods.

In its report on environmental sustainability and housing growth, the cross-party committee challenged the ‘lazy narrative’ promoted by British ministers that nature is a barrier or inconvenience to delivering housing.

The report says serious skills shortages in ecology, planning and construction would make it impossible for the government to achieve its housing ambitions.

Perkins said: “The Government’s target to build 1.5 million homes by the end of this parliament is incredibly ambitious. Achieving this alongside our existing climate and sustainability targets – which are set out in law – will require efforts on a scale not seen before.

“That will certainly not be achieved by scapegoating nature and claiming it is a ‘blocker’ to housing development. We are clear in our report: a healthy environment is essential for building resilient towns and cities. It should not be sidelined..”

Experts say the Planning and Infrastructure Bill – which is in its final stages before being passed into law – rolls back environmental legislation so developers can avoid the need for on-site surveys and mitigation of any environmental damage by paying into a central nature recovery fund for improvements that can be made elsewhere.

Ecologists, environmental groups and some MPs have fought for changes to the draft legislation to keep protections for wildlife and rare habitats as they are. But the Housing Secretary Steve Reed told MPs to vote down the changes during a House of Commons vote on the bill this week.

The committee said it was concerned that the legislation as drafted would mean the government would miss its legislated target of halting the decline of nature by 2030 and reversing it by 2042.

The report found that local planning authorities were seriously under-resourced in ecological skills. It heard evidence that staff at Of course England were “stretched to the limit”, that the skills needed to deliver the ecological aspects of planning reform “simply do not exist at the scale, quality or capacity required”.

This is because Natural England will play an important role in planning under the government’s changes. The body will oversee the National Nature Recovery Fund, which will be funded by developers and allow builders to avoid environmental obligations on a particular site – even if it is a landscape protected for its wildlife.

Critics of the bill have questioned the conflict of interest in giving Natural England new funding from developers while expecting the body to regulate their actions.