Lord Moylan, Tory chairman of the Lords built environment committee, condemned the “total ban” on homebuilding yesterday, saying that “people do not have enough houses to live in”.

However, bosses at Natural England, the agency within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs responsible for protecting the environment, told peers that it must take all actions to protect damaged rivers.

The Home Builders Federation has called for water companies to be forced to pay to upgrade sewage treatment plants and for farmers’ handling of animal manure and fertiliser to be more tightly regulated.

Tom Witherow www.thetimes.co.uk 

The green quango accused of blocking 120,000 homes with rules to keep rivers clean has admitted the pollution from new developments is “very small”.

Last year Natural England extended guidance to 74 councils that led planners to block new homes unless developers could prove they would not pollute water courses. Homebuilders claimed they had been unfairly targeted, given that 96 per cent of pollutants come from existing homes and farmers.

Lord Moylan, Tory chairman of the Lords built environment committee, condemned the “total ban” on homebuilding yesterday, saying that “people do not have enough houses to live in”.

However, bosses at Natural England, the agency within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs responsible for protecting the environment, told peers that it must take all actions to protect damaged rivers.

Housebuilding will be a dividing line at the next election after Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, promised to build on the green belt just as Rishi Sunak ditched his government’s target of 300,000 homes per year.

Alan Law, deputy chief executive of Natural England, admitted: “The proportion of pollution arising from new housing stock is very small but the question being asked from us is, ‘Is it OK to take an already polluted system, and make it worse?’ It’s not, ‘Is the new development more polluting than existing homes or the existing agriculture?’ and the legal framework is clear.” The Environment Agency was largely responsible for regulating farming, he said, leaving Natural England with limited powers to change farmers’ behaviour.

The Home Builders Federation has called for water companies to be forced to pay to upgrade sewage treatment plants and for farmers’ handling of animal manure and fertiliser to be more tightly regulated.

The “nutrient neutrality” guidelines originated from a 2018 European Court of Justice ruling in the Netherlands, and effectively halted housebuilding in large areas of the country, including the Wye Valley, Somerset Levels and the Tees Valley.

Natural England has helped to set up credit schemes, allowing housebuilders to pay to mitigate the impact of new homes, which have unlocked thousands of homes in the Solent and Tees Valley. A larger credits scheme, backed by £30 million of government funding, is being developed. Law said “the approach for nutrient neutrality is by necessity a temporary one . . . the solution is better agricultural standards and better water treatment services.”

Moylan said: “We seem to have this screeching of the brakes in terms of development while [someone] works out what the 20-year solution is.”