PRESS RELEASE from the office of Sir Bill Wiggin (Conservative MP for Herefordshire North)
Government plans to unlock housebuilding whilst protecting the River Wye
I am delighted that the lobbying and efforts we have put in locally to improve the condition of the River Wye while helping our communities are paying off.
On Tuesday the Government announced its plan to use our Brexit freedoms to unlock 100,000 new homes whilst putting environmental protections in place to protect our rivers.
The Government’s proposed amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will remove the irrelevant EU regulation and allow homes that have received planning permission to be built, whilst also allowing a more targeted approach to be taken to pollution.
Many houses in the UK have not been built due to existing EU laws concerning the potential risk of nutrients polluting our rivers.
Only a tiny and manageable amount of nutrient pollution, however, comes from the building of new houses.
The news of the amendment follows our tireless track record in bringing the pollution of the River Wye to the Government’s attention, most recently by welcoming the Secretary of the State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to Herefordshire for the Wye Summit in May.
The Government is creating a River Wye Action plan to tackle the pollution of the river and are taking further steps to reduce nutrient pollution by investing in Natural England’s Nutrient Mitigation Scheme.
The amendment is great news for Herefordshire.
Now we have left the EU, we are able to cut the red-tape and excessive regulation of EU rules on housebuilding that might once have been relevant to parts of Europe but did not consider the local context.
By removing these rules, the amendment strikes the right balance between granting autonomy to people at the local level and ensuring that we protect our rivers.
This is important in Herefordshire, where we have been working to tackle the pollution of our River Wye.
I therefore take very seriously the work of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and Welsh Water to put environmental protections in place whilst also encouraging housebuilding.
Now that our efforts to protect our river are producing results, I will continue to work with the Government towards a sustainable future which does not unnecessarily restrict housebuilding in communities.
The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove MP, said:
“We are committed to building the homes this country needs and to enhancing our environment. The way EU rules have been applied has held us back. These changes will provide a multi-billion pound boost for the UK economy and see us build more than 100,000 new homes.”
“Protecting the environment is paramount which is why the measures we’re announcing today will allow us to go further to protect and restore our precious waterways whilst still building the much-needed homes this country needs.”
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Therese Coffey MP, said:
“These new plans will cut nutrients and help support England’s precious habitats whilst unlocking the new homes that local communities need.”
