Nature is not an obstacle to the growth of housing construction, as an investigation by deputies showed, which directly contradicts ministers' claims.
Toby Perkins, chairman of the Labor Party's environmental audit committee, said nature had become a scapegoat and that rather than being an obstacle to growth, it was essential to building sustainable cities and neighbourhoods.
In its report on environmental sustainability and housing growth, the cross-party committee challenged the “lazy narrative” promoted by UK government ministers that nature is an obstacle or disadvantage to housing development.
The report says severe shortages of environmental, planning and construction skills will make it impossible for the government to achieve its housing ambitions.
Perkins said: “The Government's target of building 1.5 million homes by the end of this Parliament is incredibly ambitious. Achieving it alongside our existing climate and sustainability targets, which are set out in law, will require effort on a scale never seen before.
“This, of course, cannot be achieved by scapegoating nature, claiming it is a 'blocker' to housing. In our report we make clear: a healthy environment is essential to building sustainable cities. It cannot be sidelined..»
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Experts say the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, in its final stages before becoming law, overrides environmental legislation by allowing developers to bypass the need to carry out surveys and mitigate any environmental damage on site by paying into a central nature restoration fund for improvements that can be made elsewhere.
Environmentalists, environmental groups and some members of Parliament are fighting for changes to the bill to keep protections for wildlife and rare habitats intact. But Secretary of State for Housing Steve Reid told MPs vote against the changes when the House of Commons votes on the bill this week.
The committee said it had concerns that the bill as drafted would mean the government would miss its statutory target of halting environmental decline by 2030 and reversing it by 2042.
The report says local planning authorities have a serious shortage of environmental skills. He heard evidence that employees Natural England were “stretched to the limit” that the skills required to implement the environmental aspects of reform planning “simply do not exist at the scale, quality or capacity required”.
This comes as Natural England will take on a major role in planning the government's changes. The body would oversee a national nature restoration fund, which would be funded by developers and would allow builders to bypass environmental obligations on a particular site – even if it is a landscape protected for wildlife.
Critics of the bill have questioned the conflict of interest in Natural England providing new funds from developers while expecting the body to regulate their actions.
