The UK government's plans to relax the restrictions on water pollution in an attempt to boost house building in England, through late amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, have been blocked by the House of Lords, who voted with a majority of 47 against the changes.
Labour Party, environmental and planning lawyers, and environmentalists widely criticised the proposals, saying that they would severely weaken the protections and calling them "reckless". Recently, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has sent a warning letter to Therese Coffey and Michael Gove, the Secretaries of State for Environment and Levelling Up, Housing and Communities respectively, that the changes would amount to the regression of the environmental law and will not guarantee the same level of environmental protections as they currently stand.
The government claimed that the current rules on nutrient neutrality, which mean that local authorities cannot allow new developments unless the developers can prove that their projects are nutrient-neutral set out in the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations SI 2017/1012, are the "EU-era" legislation and should be relaxed to allow for quicker housing delivery. The amendments meant to provide £280m of investment in place for the English Nutrient Mitigation Scheme to control pollution, along with other investments.
When the government announced the amendments to the Bill, it was at the late stages of its passage through both Houses and the proposals, once rejected, may not be re-introduced in the same Bill. The government would need to include these proposals in a new Bill.
The Shadow Levelling up Secretary, Angela Rayner said that the government has "utterly failed in their attempt to score cheap political points with a flawed plan", adding "We stand ready to sit down with the government, housebuilders and environmental groups to agree on a workable solution to build the homes we need."
Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove said about the defeat that Labour had ordered peers from its party to block "the dream of ownership for thousands of families"
"This is despite boasting that Labour would be the party of the builders not the blockers" he added.
Baroness Jenny Jones, the Green Party peer, said that the government should consult the public before they consider bringing back the plans to scrap pollution rules in a separate Bill, adding that "They can then consult properly and justify it to a public who are already fed up with polluted local rivers and beaches".
