Post-Brexit UK relaxes EU water pollution rules to boost homebuilding
- Britain has been grappling with an undersupply of homes, and a statement said the rule change would enable more than 100,000 homes to be built by 2030
- The move angered green campaigners, who called it ‘a disgraceful move which undermines public trust in the government’
Britain said on Tuesday it would remove some European Union rules it had retained post-Brexit that were meant to curb water pollution, to enable thousands of new homes to be built, a move environmentalists said would further spoil dirty rivers.
The EU’s “nutrient neutrality” laws were put in place to ensure that development does not pollute waterways with additional chemicals that cause plants to grow, from sources such as agricultural fertiliser and untreated sewage.
Britain has for decades been grappling with an undersupply of homes. The government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said in a statement the rule change would enable more than 100,000 homes to be built by 2030 “delivering an estimated £18 billion (US$22.6 billion) boost to the economy”.
It added that nutrients entering rivers “are a real problem”, but the contribution made by new homes is “very small”.
“I want to see more homes built,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on X, formerly Twitter.