Labour has blocked government plans to ditch nutrient neutrality rules.
The amendment to the Levelling Up Bill, which would have scrapped environmental protections for waterways to allow more than 100,000 homes to be built, was defeated in the House of Lords by a coalition of Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green and cross-bench peers by 203 votes to 156.
It had been thought that large numbers of Conservative peers would rebel against the government, but in the end just three sided with the opposition, including the former chair of the Climate Change Committee, Lord Deben.
The government had pledged to reverse the “defective EU laws”, which require developers to offset any nutrient pollution in sensitive areas, including the Lake District and the Norfolk Broads.
More than 60 local authorities have been ordered to restrict housebuilding in certain areas by Natural England, a government agency. The government said the laws would prevent 100,000 homes being built by 2030.
During the debate former Conservative environment secretary Deben, previously known as John Gummer, said: “This is one of the worst pieces of legislation I have ever seen, and I’ve been around a long time.”
Labour had said homes should be built, but not at the expense of environmental protections.
Shadow levelling up secretary Angela Rayner, who was given the post in a Labour reshuffle last week, said: “There are far better ways to build the new homes we desperately need than green-lighting water pollution”.
She and shadow environment secretary Steve Reed have suggested that developers are permitted to build homes that already have planning permission before nutrient neutrality plans had been put in place. But the developers would then be required to introduce measures to counteract any environmental harm before the homes could be occupied.
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