Nature not an ‘enemy’ or ‘blocker’ to housebuilding, MPs find

He added: “It is possible to build the homes we need while protecting a resilient and healthy environment and allowing nature to thrive. Some major changes might be needed, but nature is not the enemy.”

The report comes as changes to planning policy aiming to speed up housebuilding, brought in via the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, reach their final stages in the House of Commons.

The bill is set to bring in powers for Natural England to create environmental development plans which it can use to assess the impact of schemes on significant nature protection sites, and a pot for developers to pay compensation towards known as the Nature Restoration Fund (NRF).

Last month saw a raft of eleventh-hour amendments to the bill aimed at adding further support to development and also streamlining Natural England. 

In its new report, the EAC makes dozens of recommendations on how the government can meet both its housing goals and environmental targets, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reversing biodiversity loss.

For example, the group raise concerns that changes to a presumption in favour of sustainable development, made to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) last year, could result in “unsustainable and speculative development”, and suggest it be revised again to give more weight to environmental sustainability.

MPs also call for transparency on how the secretary of state will make decisions on environmental delivery plans (EDPs) and for a clear statement from Natural England setting out how it will avoid potential conflicts of interests when working on both EDPs and the NRF.

They argue that biodiversity net gain policies need more time to succeed and warn against rolling out exemptions to all small sites.

Other suggestions aim to overcome challenges to getting housing projects built and add government support to sustainable construction.

To tackle skills shortages, the group suggests the government create a pilot scheme of local ecological resource hubs to help over-stretched councils, conduct a thorough analysis of the construction workforce needed to meet housebuilding targets and ensure there is clarity on Natural England’s function amid staffing cuts and impending extra responsibilities.

On sustainable construction, most of the policy changes MPs suggest relate to reducing embodied carbon – meaning the total greenhouse gas emissions involved in constructing buildings – which is said to be crucial to meeting UK climate targets.

They recommend the government review how lower taxes for homes with less embodied carbon could work, make it compulsory for developers to submit life-time carbon assessments with major applications and add embodied carbon requirements to the NPPF.

The committee also urges the government to promote alternative building materials which have less of a carbon footprint such as timber and hemp, potentially by bringing in ‘eco-labelling’ for greener products or financial incentives to help boost uptake and manufacture of these materials.

As well as backing greener building methods, MPs also urge government to support retrofit as a more sustainable alternative to demolition, and claim refurbishing properties could contribute significantly to the government’s housing targets.

They suggest encouraging retrofit projects by lowering VAT from 20% on these schemes, adding stronger requirements to reuse buildings before knocking them down and confirming that properties brought back into use count towards local and national housing targets.

A government response to the committee’s findings is expected in mid-January.

Chloe Fletcher, head of policy and external affairs at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), said: “We welcome much of this detailed, rigorous report from the EAC on environmental sustainability and housing growth.

“At the heart of the report is the recognition that our homes can best provide a stable foundation for healthy living if they are climate-friendly, accessible and embedded in green, flourishing communities and neighbourhoods. New homes must be fit for the future and built in the right places, to the right standards.

“Drawing on the CIH’s written evidence to the inquiry, the report picks up on the critical barriers to achieving this at scale, especially the need to rapidly expand skills and career opportunities in housing, construction and planning.

“We are also pleased to see the emphasis the report places on embodied carbon and sustainable construction, a central challenge as we begin to build more housing and accelerate the retrofit, remediation and refurbishment of existing homes.

“Overall, CIH welcomes the recommendations set out by the committee and encourages the government to review them carefully ahead of finalising its long-term housing strategy and Planning and Infrastructure Bill.”