A Tory rebellion in the House of Lords could thwart Michael Gove’s plans to rip up pollution laws for housebuilders in England.
The former minister Zac Goldsmith, who recently quit the government over what he termed Rishi Sunak’s “apathy” over the environment, and Sir John Randall, a former environmental adviser to No 10, have signed an amendment laid by the Duke of Wellington that would nullify the government’s plans.
Last week, Gove and the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, announced plans to amend the levelling up bill, which would undo EU-derived rules stopping housebuilders from polluting sensitive areas. It would essentially force planning officials to pretend sewage pollution from new developments does not exist when considering applications for sensitive areas such as the Norfolk Broads and Lake District.
The current rules aim to sustain “nutrient neutrality”, meaning no more nutrient pollution such as nitrates and phosphates enter important habitats in sewage from new housing. These nutrients choke rivers, filling them with algae and killing the life within.
The duke’s amendment, which will be debated in the coming days, would “delete … the requirement placed on a local authority to assume that nutrients in wastewater would not cause harm to the environment”. This would effectively undo the government’s amendment and maintain the protections for rivers.
Goldsmith is understood to be lobbying his fellow peers to back the duke’s amendment. Other signatories include the Green party’s Jenny Jones, and Kate Parminter of the Liberal Democrats.
The Office for Environmental Protection, set up to replace the EU as a watchdog for environmental regulation in the UK, has said these rules are a regression in environmental standards and asked Coffey and Gove to appear in front of the House of Commons to explain themselves. Those who hoped Labour would undo this “regression” when in power were disappointed when the then shadow levelling up secretary, Lisa Nandy, indicated she supported the government position. It is unclear whether her replacement, Angela Rayner, does too.
The Lib Dem environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, has reported the solicitor general and the prime minister to the ethics adviser for a breach of the ministerial code, claiming they have misled parliament by saying they would not degrade the environment.
Farron said: “The prime minister’s contradiction on environmental protections is not only a grave concern for the environment, but also potentially a serious breach of the ministerial code.
“Ministers are expected to provide accurate information. We need an urgent investigation into this to get to the bottom of whether the prime minister and solicitor general have knowingly misled the House of Commons.”
A government spokesperson said: “We’ve always been clear we will never compromise our high standards and we are fully committed to our ambitious and legally binding commitments on the environment. The reforms we’ve set out will see us tackle pollution at source in a way that these legacy laws never addressed through a significant package to restore waterways and leave our environment in a better state than we found it.
“This will see us more than offset the negligible impact of new homes on levels of nutrients, by doubling the investment for Natural England to tackle nutrients, bringing this to £280m, drawing up bespoke plans to restore nature in the most affected areas, and providing more support than ever to help farmers reduce pollution from essential agriculture.”
