Does Britain have to choose between homes and clean rivers?
The UK is set to change water pollution rules that developers blame for preventing thousands of new homes from being built. So-called “nutrient neutrality” rules, which have existed since 2017, block building near waterways unless developers make efforts to offset the release of excess chemicals like nitrogen and phosphorus into the environment. After a months-long tussle with Defra, Michael Gove, the Housing and Levelling Up Secretary, has been given the all-clear to rip up the regulations. He’ll tout it as a “Brexit freedom” that will unlock planning consent for up to 100,000 new homes. Green groups say it will be a death sentence for the country’s rivers. They argue the government needs to do more to fix the UK’s dilapidated sewage network before relaxing pollutant limits. They also point to the £60 million housing developers and builders have donated to the Conservative party over the last decade – a source of funding which in recent months has reduced to a trickle.
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