Nature is not a ‘blocker’ to delivering new housing, but rather a necessity for building resilient towns and neighbourhoods, MPs argue in a House of Commons committee report on ‘Environmental sustainability and housing growth’, with responses from government due in two months.
Parliament writes:
In its report on ‘Environmental sustainability and housing growth’, the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee challenges the ‘lazy narrative’ that nature is a blocker or an inconvenience to delivering housing.
The Committee finds that the measures contained in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, passing through final stages in Parliament, are not enough to allow the Government to meet its targets on both the environment and housing.
MPs also find that without further action, severe skills shortages in ecology, planning and construction will make it impossible for the Government to deliver on its housebuilding ambitions.
A full summary of the Committee’s conclusions and recommendations is included below.
Chair comment
Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee Toby Perkins MP said: ‘The Government’s target to build 1.5 million homes by the end of this Parliament is incredibly ambitious. Achieving it alongside our existing targets on climate and sustainability – which are set in law – will require effort on a scale not seen before.
‘That certainly will not be achieved by scapegoating nature, claiming that it is a ‘blocker’ to housing delivery. We are clear in our report: a healthy environment is essential to building resilient towns and cities. It must not be sidelined.’
‘There are certainly issues standing in the way of meeting both our housebuilding and environmental targets.’
‘For instance, the skills we need in construction, planning and ecology simply do not exist at the scale we need right now. The Government has made welcome investments in construction skills, but it may not be enough, and staff at local authorities and regulators are already stretched to their limit.’
‘We also need much better incentives for people to construct and live in carbon-friendly homes, or to retrofit existing ones. That’s why this report suggests innovative approaches to boost manufacturing viability of climate friendly construction products and alter the tax burden in favour of climate friendly homes.’
‘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.’
Nature must not be a ‘scapegoat’ for housebuilding issues
While the Committee acknowledges and welcomes the Government’s amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill (PIB) it says these changes are not enough on their own to ensure the Government can meet its environmental targets alongside housing targets.
‘The Government must not veer down the path of viewing nature as an inconvenience or blocker to housebuilding,’ the Committee says. ‘At worst, this approach could lead to the degradation of the natural world, preventing the achievement of legally binding climate and nature targets, upon which our society and economy depend.’
Skills shortages put targets in question
The Committee finds that local planning authorities are severely under-resourced in ecological skills. It heard evidence that staff at Natural England are ‘stretched to their limits’, that the skills needed to deliver the ecological aspects of planning reforms ‘simply do not exist at the scale, quality or capacity that is needed’.
The Committee recommends the Government establish a pilot programme for local ecological resource hubs, available to local authorities facing acute resources challenges, by July 2026.
It also recommends that the Government set out a realistic analysis of the construction workforce required to deliver housing targets and the skills that will be needed, and to clearly lay out how Natural England will operate amid staffing cuts and the additional responsibilities that will apply when the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is enacted.
Planning rule changes prioritise growth over the environment
Throughout its inquiry, the Committee heard repeated concerns that the Government’s changes to the presumption in favour of sustainable development, made in the 2024 review of the National Planning Policy Framework, would lead to the environment being ‘sidelined’.
The Committee finds that the present form of the presumption could result in unsustainable and speculative development. The Committee recommends that the Government amend the current definition of the presumption, to give greater weight to sustainability. It should also strengthen safeguards against environmentally unsustainable, unplanned and speculative development.
More incentives for greener homes
The Committee concludes that the Government must accelerate policies to decrease the carbon emissions of the built environment. MPs recommend the Government should consider steps it could take to incentivise homeowners, housebuilders, landlords and tenants to favour homes with lower levels of embodied carbon.
The Committee also recommends the Government review tax policies such as Council Tax and Stamp Duty to consider the merit of offering lower bands of taxation for homes with lower levels of embodied carbon.
Biodiversity net gain needs more time to succeed
The Committee offers support for the government’s Biodiversity net gain policy. It says it is too early to assess the overall success of BNG but warns against introducing new wide-ranging exemptions to BNG. Whilst accepting minor alterations to the policy, MPs say the Government should not exempt all small sites to ensure that the effectiveness of the policy is maintained.
The Committee also recommends that the Government should:
- Incentivise the use of sustainable building materials such as timber or hemp, e.g. by introducing eco-labelling to identify materials with lower embodied carbon and offer support to further expansion of manufacturers in these fields.
- Consult on incentives to develop houses with lower full lifecycle carbon, such as a levy on new build properties containing higher levels of lifecycle carbon.
- Prioritise retrofitting over demolition by reducing VAT on retrofit projects from 20% and confirm that a property brought back into use would count towards housebuilding targets.
SELECT EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT:
- 162. Retrofitting and repurposing properties has many benefits, for instance limiting pressure to build on undeveloped land, regenerating urban areas, preventing the displacement of local residents, protecting local and national heritage, preserving green spaces and preventing ecological disruption often associated with new developments. Moreover, retrofitting produces only one third of the embodied carbon emissions of a new build property, meaning it is more compatible with Net Zero targets.
- 168. recommendation Government should prioritise and incentivise retrofitting over demolition by strengthening requirements to reuse, repurpose and refurbish buildings before any demolition. It is contrary to the Government’s environmental objectives to incentivise carbon-intensive new building over the re-use of existing sites. To encourage the retrofit and repurposing of existing buildings, the VAT on retrofit projects should be reduced from 20% to reflect environmental benefits and support uptake. Government should therefore confirm that a property brought back into use would count towards its, and a local authority’s housing target.
The report also notes:
- ‘…MPs also find that without further action, severe skills shortages in ecology, planning and construction will make it impossible for the Government to deliver on its housebuilding ambitions.
- … also need much better incentives for people to construct and live in carbon-friendly homes, or to retrofit existing ones…
