Environmental rules reviewed for small housebuilders

Environmental rules that force developers in England to improve fauna habitats could be relaxed in the government’s plans to facilitate the construction of houses on smaller sites.

The government examines the requirements of the net biodiversity gain (BNG), under which manufacturers must compensate for the loss of all kinds on housing developments.

The ministers say they are considering how costs can be reduced for small house manufacturers while also offering wildlife habitats.

The proposals are part of a set of housing reforms which will be exhibited Wednesday by the Labor government.

The conservatives said they had pushed the government to do more to support small businesses.

The Housing Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner wishes to simplify the planning system to accelerate the construction of houses on smaller sites.

It is planned to facilitate the requirements of the BNG for minor developments of up to nine houses and to give trained planning agents rather than advisers the power to approve them.

The ministers also suggested exempting sites between 10 and 49 houses from a tax to finance the abolition of the dangerous coating.

The government said that small businesses had seen their market share has been shrinking since the 1980s, when small and medium -sized manufacturers have delivered 40% of the country’s houses, and changes “would level the rules of the game”.

Addressing broadcasters on Wednesday, Rayner said that changes “simplify” the planning process and denied that it compromised environmental protections, adding: “It is pragmatism”.

The ghost secretary of the local government, Kevin Hollinrake, said that the Labor Party “stripped advisers to vote on local planning requests, concrete on the green belt and the withdrawal of support for the first buyers”.

He said that Rayner would bring “higher taxes and less to say about the development of your community”.

Ministers hope that these policy changes will help them achieve the government’s declared objective of building 1.5 million new houses in England by 2030.

The figures from the Budget Liability Bureau (OBR) published in March suggested that the construction of houses would not cost the objective of 1.5 million, even with the planning reforms previously described earlier this year.

The government has argued that new reforms not taken into account in the forecasts would help reach the number.

Last year, a record level for housing projects granted a building permit in England, with just over 30,000 projects given the green light.

The difficulty of achieving the objective of building houses has put the BNG impact on a clearer home.

BNG has become a compulsory part of the planning system in England in February as part of the 2021 environment law.

This means that sites must be assessed and that housing promoters must commit to providing a net improvement of 10% of biodiversity that lasts over a period of 30 years.

Last month, the federation of house manufacturers said that the BNG had placed a “disproportionate burden for small and medium -sized house manufacturers”.

“The house construction industry has adopted the BNG and undertakes both to increase the supply of housing and to protect and improve our natural environment,” said Neil Jefferson, Managing Director of the Home Builders Federation.

“However, if we want to increase supply in parallel with these new requirements, it is essential to deal with emerging obstacles to implementation, such as insufficient resources of local authorities, the shortage of environmentalists and inadequate national councils.”

But the link on fauna and the campaign, a coalition of conservation groups, urged the government not to “turn around in the days of damaging development”.

Richard Benwell, Managing Director of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: “Exempting small sites would mean that almost three -quarters of developments are not necessary to compensate for the loss of nature – not to mention it.

“These changes could leave the net system of dead biodiversity dead in the water and, with it, the main guarantee of the government of positive planning to nature.”

The government is launching a review in BNG review and next to this, invests 100 million pounds in loans to help small house construction companies.