Issue blamed for holding up building of thousands of new homes
The government has pledged to fund nutrient mitigation schemes in a bid to end a logjam that has held up tens of thousands of homes.
Today’s Budget document said nutrient pollution is “stalling housing delivery across 74 local planning authorities” and is “a major barrier to the government’s ambition of delivering 300,000 homes per year”.
It said the Department for Levelling Up ,Housing and Communities (DLUHC) will open a call for evidence from councils in England for ‘locally-led’ nutrient neutrality credit schemes.
It said: “Where high quality proposals are identified, this government will provide funding to support clearer routes for housing developers to deliver ‘nutrient neutral’ sites, in line with their environmental obligations.”
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The document does not specify an amount of money for the mitigation schemes but said DLUHC will commit to provide funding.
The Home Builders Federation has previously said the nutrient pollution rules are holding up 100,000 homes.
Last summer the government said it will legislate to force water companies to upgrade water treatment works by 2030 and roll out a national nutrient pollution mitigation programme to enable councils to grant planning permissions in affected areas. But housebuilders have said this is insufficient to tackle the problem.
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