The Government has confirmed it will not be introducing primary legislation on nutrient neutrality in the current Parliament.
Ministers had tried to scrap nutrient neutrality rules, which require developers to prove that new buildings will have a neutral effect on protected waterways, through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.
However, the amendments to the Bill were blocked in the House of Lords.
In a letter to council leaders affected by nutrient neutrality, planning minister Lee Rowley said the Government ‘carefully considered’ reintroducing the measures through new primary legislation.
Mr Rowley said: ‘While primary legislation will not be brought forward in this Parliament, the Government remains committed to making rapid progress to unlock homes.’
This week, the Government also announced the eight councils that will receive a share of £57m through the Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund, and confirmed that a second round of funding would open early next year.
It also set out a ‘wider environmental package' aimed at tackling the underlying sources of nutrient pollution, but said these measures were ‘certainly not’ sufficient to deliver homes blocked by nutrient neutrality requirements at the speed they are needed.
Ministers have claimed that scrapping nutrient neutrality rules would enable the delivery of more than 100,000 homes in England by 2030.
For more on nutrient neutrality, check out these features: 'Time to fight Government water plans' and 'Against nutrient neutrality rules'.
