Nature is not a barrier to housebuilding and the government risks missing its targets for both new homes and environmental recovery if it treats it as one, a cross-party group of MPs has warned.
In a report published on Sunday, the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said ministers were wrong to suggest that existing habitat protections are holding back development. The criticism comes as the government progresses its Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which seeks to override several long-standing environmental safeguards in order to accelerate the delivery of 1.5 million new homes by 2029.
The report argues that the measures proposed in the Bill are insufficient to achieve the government’s housing ambitions and could undermine efforts to restore nature.
“Using nature as a scapegoat means the government will be less effective at tackling some of the genuine challenges facing the planning system,” the MPs said.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill would replace existing site-specific habitat protections with a system allowing developers to make more general environmental improvements or contribute to a new Nature Restoration Fund. Ministers argue this will simplify complex planning rules and speed up construction on smaller sites.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing insisted that the reforms represent “landmark changes” designed to fix a “failing system” that has delayed new homes while doing little for the environment.
But the EAC concluded that nature is not a “blocker” to housing delivery and is in fact essential to building “resilient neighbourhoods”. Instead, the committee highlighted a series of more persistent issues — including skills shortages in ecology, planning and construction, policy uncertainty and land banking — as the true constraints on housing growth.
The committee urged ministers to rethink their approach and set out a series of proposals to support climate-conscious construction, including:
• boosting the manufacturing viability of green building products
• offering better incentives for people to build or retrofit carbon-friendly homes
• altering the tax system to support environmentally sustainable housing
Friends of the Earth described the Bill as “bad legislation” that does not deliver the homes people need and fails to protect wildlife.
Paul de Zylva, the group’s nature campaigner, said: “Instead of attacking newts, bats and nature laws to justify its growth-at-any-cost agenda, the government should focus on meeting its legal nature targets, which are at serious risk of being missed.”
Responding to the report, the Ministry of Housing said the UK had “inherited a failing system” and that its reforms would deliver both new homes and environmental gains.
“We are fixing this with landmark reforms, including the Nature Restoration Fund, that create a win-win for the economy and the environment,” a spokesperson said. “This will get Britain building the 1.5 million homes we desperately need to restore the dream of homeownership — and not at the expense of nature.”
The EAC report will put further pressure on ministers ahead of the Bill’s final passage through Parliament, as environmental groups, planners and MPs debate how best to balance housing delivery with the UK’s legally binding biodiversity commitments.
