Gove is right to tackle EU pollution laws blocking housing

Michael Gove has announced today that the government will scrap EU-era pollution laws which are preventing homes being built. The move to liberalise the so-called ‘nutrient neutrality’ rules – which say that any new development can’t add additional nutrients into the environment – is designed to ease some of the bottlenecks around building and comes with the bonus of sweeping away EU-era regulation.

The current position for nutrient neutrality is a complex one. A combination of EU law, strict judicial interpretation and cautious domestic implementation has turned a well-intentioned piece of regulation into a millstone around builders’ necks. The original rules began with a drive to protect vulnerable species and habitats from run-off pollution, but now mean that you can only build near protected sites if you demonstrate nutrient neutrality across a project.