The Government announced new plans today to remove environmental protections on nutrient neutrality imposed by Brussels.
The nutrient neutrality rules were introduced as a means of ensuring that development projects do not add to existing nutrient burdens, so there is no net increase in nutrients due to the project.
This means controlling the nutrient load, or the total amount of substances such as nitrogen and phosphorous entering the water, through avenues such as runoff.
The Government’s move to change the rules aimed to release more than 100,000 new homes by 2030, and is set to bring a £18m boost to the UK economy.
In light of this decision, Newspage sought the views of property experts, who shared their thoughts on how this move could affect the development market as well as the environment.
Reaction:
Jamie Lennox, director at Dimora Mortgages:
“The shackles are finally off for many developers who have been unable to build off the back of nutrient neutrality and have been left close to the brink of failure as a result.
“These changes will come as a welcome relief to many developers. However, these changes won’t have come soon enough for some developers who have fallen by the wayside while these restrictions have been in place.
“Given that the UK falls woefully short each year in the number of houses being built, more needs to be done to allow additional houses to be built affordably without being locked in planning stasis for years.”
Scott Taylor-Barr, financial adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management:
“This is a real conflict for me, as we desperately need to build more homes, with underdevelopment a key reason why property price inflation is so disproportionately high when compared to the average salary growth in the UK, putting home ownership further and further out of reach for many people.
“However, I’m also a keen user of our rivers and waterways in my spare time so anything more to degrade and risk them doesn’t sit well with me.
“We already have issues with raw sewage, and I dread to think about what other substances we’re now giving license to be dumped into them.
“I’d like to know more about how the dumping of materials into our waterways helps us build more homes.
“The cynical side of me wonders if it just makes it cheaper for developers to build more homes and the only thing holding them back previously was that correctly dealing with their waste was too costly and ate up too much of their profits.
“Now the taxpayer will likely be the one paying to clean up their mess.”
Samuel Mather-Holgate, independent financial adviser at Mather and Murray Financial:
“The Tories are as far away from “vote blue, get green” as they have ever been.
“With water companies presiding over multiple sewage spills into our river, daily, this decriminalises the problem and give them the green light to built housing that will make a real problem worse.
“There is plenty the Government could do to fix the housing crisis, but they’ve missed the mark with this policy in a phenomenal way.”
Michelle Lawson, director – mortgage and protection adviser at Lawson Financial Ltd:
“This is a real conflict of interest as building more homes on such locations is actually pushing wildlife more into our communities.
“Also, as the intention is quoted as providing homes for first time buyers, perhaps the developers and planning committees should ensure such homes are built.
“Many sites have a token number of smaller homes and a significant proportion of larger executive homes. Sadly, another example of profit before need.”
John Choong, equity research analyst at Investing Reviews:
“The relaxation of nutrient neutrality rules for housebuilders will certainly remove some of the red tape for housebuilders.
“This should encourage developers to build more and is why housebuilder stocks are on the rise today.
“That said, the relaxation of this ruling isn’t going to meaningfully change the underlying issue of lack of housing supply any time soon as there are still numerous roadblocks.
“One of these is the tedious consultation processes housebuilders have to go through with local councils before building.
“What’s more, the increases in corporation tax and the Residential Property Developer Tax aren’t going to incentivise companies to build more, either.
“And with stricter requirements to install features such as solar panels and heat pumps, costs are only going to rise and make homes even more unaffordable.
“If the Government really wanted to improve supply, they’d do more to alleviate the countless roadblocks housebuilders face.”
