Plans for a bill have been dropped for fear of Conservative MPs being seen to vote for more water pollution in the run-up to a general election, in a development first reported by ITV.

But if they get back in they can always do another reverse ferret. – Owl

Ministers shelve new plan to ditch nutrient rules on river pollution

The government has quietly abandoned plans for a second attempt at killing off river protection rules in an effort to increase housebuilding.

Adam Vaughan www.thetimes.co.uk 

In August Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, announced that he wanted to ditch the “nutrient neutrality” rules which mean housebuilders in 27 catchments across England cannot win planning permission without offsetting extra pollution from new homes. Officials say the rules are blocking about 16,500 new homes a year.

However, the plan was defeated in a House of Lords vote last month after Labour united with Greens, Lib Dems and cross-party peers.

Less than a fortnight later the government revealed it was planning to resurrect efforts to kill off the protections, by drawing up a new Bill to pass in parliament next year.

That second effort to ditch nutrient neutrality rules is now dead, according to a government source. They said that plans for a bill had been dropped for fear of Conservative MPs being seen to vote for more water pollution in the run-up to a general election, in a development first reported by ITV.

Polling suggests that more than half of the public say the government’s handling of sewage pollution in rivers and seas will influence how they vote next year.

Scrapping the rules would have meant shifting the cost of the extra pollution from housebuilders on to taxpayers. Preserving the regulations also marks a victory for The Times Clean it Up campaign, which has called on the government to resist pressure to drop the rules for the 74 local authorities where they apply.

Charles Watson, chairman of River Action, said: “The prime minister has finally listened to the calls of the public who simply can’t face the prospect of any more pollution of our rivers. Nobody was fooled by government spin that nutrient neutrality laws were mere EU red tape’. They are fundamental and entirely reasonable protections which ensure that the building of new housing doesn’t add additional pollution load to our rivers which are already under huge environmental stress from both sewage discharges and agricultural run-off.”

Housebuilders are privately disappointed by the move. Labour has said it would reform rather than scrap the nutrient neutrality rules, promising to boost offsetting to enable new homes to be built while protecting rivers.

Matthew Pennycock, shadow minister for housing and planning, said: “If the government have indeed abandoned their reckless approach to the nutrient neutrality challenge we welcome it. We can unlock these new homes without damaging our environment.”

Meanwhile, the High Court has approved a challenge by campaigners against the Environment Agency over what they say is its failure to stop chicken farms polluting the River Wye. Demand for cheap chickens has been blamed for the intensification of poultry farms along the river, with the birds’ manure washing into the river and causing nutrient pollution. In May officials downgraded the status of the Wye to “unfavourable-declining”.

Watson, whose group was granted a judicial review, said: “We will vigorously make the case that a prime cause for the recent ecological collapse of the River Wye is the Environment Agency’s decision to slavishly follow Defra’s guidance to not enforce critical provisions of the 2018 Farming Rules for Water. These critically important regulations state that fertilisers and manures must not be spread on soils already over-saturated with excess nutrients.”

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said:‘We are considering next steps so we can explore how we can unlock the homes we need.”