The government has unveiled plans to scrap environmental impact assessments for individual projects, but housebuilders have voiced worries about a proposed “tax” suggested as a replacement.
A planning reform working paper published yesterday, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) proposed moving to a more strategic approach to protecting the environment as new development comes forward.
The move would see a move away from multiple project-specific assessments in an area to a single strategic assessment and delivery plan.
The paper said: “We therefore want to establish a framework that allows for a suitable public delivery body to consider which actions are needed to address an environmental impact (or impacts) strategically, for a relevant range of development types, across an appropriate area and for an appropriate period of time.
“The delivery body will then secure these actions using funding provided by developers, meaning that there will be no need to consider this environmental impact on a case-by-case basis.”
The paper said that developers would be asked to provide a financial payment that helps fund strategic actions, “so development can proceed more quickly”.
However, the paper said that There may be environmental effects for which this model is “not suited to supplanting existing environmental assessment, or specific types or locations of development for which it is not appropriate”.
In these cases, “developers will continue to discharge obligations in line with existing legislation and practice”.
This body would also set a fee for builders to pay for species licenses they could submit alongside planning applications.
But housebuilders have warned that the proposed fees could backfire and put firms out of business.
Steve Turner, executive director at industry body the Home Builders Federation, said members would “welcome” a system that reduced planning blocks such as the nutrient neutrality rules blamed for holding up construction of tens of thousands of residences.
But he added: “Any new tax on home building, just weeks after ministers announced the last one in the form of the Building Safety Levy, would run the risk of further suppressing housing supply and putting more small and medium-sized builders out of business.
“Building homes has become a risky and costly endeavour that fewer and fewer parties are able to make work. It’s a simple fact that every new tax will put the government’s very ambitious and most welcome housing targets further out of reach.”
The government said it would use the forthcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill to introduce the legislative changes needed to create the new fund.
Housing secretary Angela Rayner (pictured) said: “For years, vital housing and infrastructure projects have been tied up in red tape leaving communities without the homes, infrastructure and jobs they need.
“Our Plan for Change will put an end to the status quo while restoring nature. It’s win-win for development and our environment, including targeted reforms allowing us to use the economic benefits of growth to fund tangible and targeted action for nature’s recovery.”
Tony Juniper, chair of Natural England, which has been mooted as the delivery body for the initiative, backed the plan.
“It is evident that we need to take urgent action to address the worsening decline of nature, and we must also lean into the challenges posed by housing shortages,” he said.
“The two key issues of today, nature and economic recovery, should not be pitted against one another, as we step up efforts to avoid losing what protected remnants of nature remain while also restoring some of what has gone.
“Instead, we should consider the huge opportunities which can be unlocked through better strategic planning, which considers environmental improvements, economic development and green spaces for public enjoyment on a landscape scale.”
This afternoon, Rayner is set to announce plans to give regions more power over strategic development as the government continues with its mission to deliver 1.5 million homes during this parliament.
She is expected to say: “Our English Devolution White Paper will be a turning point when we finally see communities, people and places across England begin to take back control over the things that matter to them. When our proud towns and cities are once again given the powers they need to drive growth and raise living standards as part of our Plan for Change.”
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Greg Pitcher