Following a ministerial review into England’s flagship nature restoration and habitat creation policy, the number of new developments which do not need to comply is set to grow.
The changes announced on Tuesday increase the maximum size of new construction projects which are exempt from Biodiversity Net Gain legislation. This means projects must be more than 2,000 square metres in order to fall under regulations which stipulate a site’s ‘nature score’ must improve by 10% once a blueprint has been built.
An estimated 12,000 homes per year will escape this rule, according to a government spokesperson. Although the change is significantly less drastic than another proposal – which would see anything below 10,000 square metres exempted – the move has triggered outrage and protest among activist, environmental charities and more.
‘It’s good that exemptions are narrower than originally proposed, but this is still damage limitation, not positive leadership for nature,’ said Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, told BBC News, warning that the amendments threaten to hollow-out ‘one of the most important nature protection policies in a generation.’
Other changes to planning announced this week include default approval for suitable homes around rail stations, with minimum housing density rules. The same will apply to ‘building upwards’ in towns and cities, with any schemes that meet ‘high standards for well-designed homes’ fast-tracked. New builds must also include nature-friendly features, like swift bricks.
Right now we see a planning system that still isn’t working well enough. A system saying ‘no’ more often than it says ‘yes’ and that favours obstructing instead of building,’ said Housing Secretary, Steve Reed. ‘It has real-world consequences for those aspiring to own a home of their own and those hoping to escape so-called temporary accommodation – we owe it to the people of this country to do everything within our power to build the homes they deserve.
We’ve already laid the groundwork to get Britain building but our planning overhaul was only the first step to fix the housing crisis we face,’ he continued. ‘And today I’m going further than ever before to hit 1.5 million homes and place the key to homeownership into the hands of thousands more hardworking people and families.’
Image: Alex Skobe / Unsplash
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