Over 100,000 new homes, which the government says have been “held up due to defective EU laws”, will now go ahead before 2030, delivering an estimated £18 billion boost to the economy.

Through an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, the Government will do away with legacy EU laws on nutrient neutrality which prevent new homes being built in certain areas.

The Government says whilst nutrients entering our rivers are a real problem the “contribution made by new homes is very small.”  As such, the EU laws have been replaced with new environmental measures that will tackle pollution at source and restore habitats. This includes increasing investment in and evolving the Nutrient Mitigation Scheme run by Natural England. The organisation will now work with local authorities, the private sector and others to tackle nutrient pollution and work towards the long-term health and resilience of the river systems. The government says it also intends to work with the house building industry to ensure that larger developers make an appropriate and fair contribution to this scheme over the coming years.

The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove MP said:

“We are committed to building the homes this country needs and to enhancing our environment. The way EU rules have been applied has held us back. These changes will provide a multi-billion pound boost for the UK economy and see us build more than 100,000 new homes.   

“Protecting the environment is paramount which is why the measures we’re announcing today will allow us to go further to protect and restore our precious waterways whilst still building the much-needed homes this country needs.

“We will work closely with environmental agencies and councils as we deliver these changes.”