Tories have announced plans to abolish Natural England and the Environment Agency as part of ‘the most ambitious deregulation project in a generation’.
Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith unveiled the proposals at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham on Monday. He said the two organisations would be scrapped, with their responsibilities transferred to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The Conservatives said the changes would mean ‘moving to a more streamlined regulatory landscape to protect our environment’.
During his speech, Griffith said: ‘No one else is coming to save our economy. Only we can inject reality, tell the hard truths and make this a country we are proud to hand on to the next generation.
‘Our task just got bigger. We face a prime minister that wants to return Britain to an imagined past. A socialist fever dream of the 1970s. Cheaper homes, lower taxes and less red tape. This will be the most deregulation project in a generation.’
Natural England advises the government on protecting England’s natural environment, while the Environment Agency is responsible for areas including flood protection, pollution and water quality.
However, the tories claimed both bodies were creating unnecessary costs and delays for development.
At the conference, the Conservatives also announced plans to axe the Future Homes Standard and replace Section 106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy with a single levy on developers.
Section 106 agreements can require developers to contribute towards affordable housing and local infrastructure, while the Community Infrastructure Levy helps fund services and facilities needed as a result of new development.
The party said its housing proposals could cut the cost of a new-build home by up to £50,000.
Industry reactions
Lawrence Turner, director of Boyer, has welcomed the plans, saying they will ‘resonate with the development industry’, but questioned whether they will actually make development quicker.
‘Abolishing Natural England and the Environment Agency would be a significant change, but many of the requirements developers have to address arise from the underlying legislation,’ Turner said.
‘If those requirements remain, transferring responsibility to Defra will not necessarily remove the delays our clients currently experience.
‘Similarly, there is certainly scope to simplify Section 106 and CIL. We regularly see schemes secure a resolution to grant planning permission but then spend many months negotiating the s106 agreement before a permission is actually issued.
‘A simpler and more predictable system could therefore make a real difference, although it would still need sufficient flexibility to deal with affordable housing, infrastructure requirements and scheme viability.
‘The suggested £50,000 saving is obviously an eye-catching figure, although a reduction in the cost of building a home wouldn’t necessarily translate directly into the same reduction in its sale price.’
Russell Dean, a residential heating expert from Mitsubishi Electric, has warned scrapping the Future Homes Standard would be ‘a backwards step for UK housing and risks creating new homes that are outdated almost as soon as they are built.’
‘We absolutely need to make new homes more affordable, but taking away measures designed to make them more energy efficient is not the answer,’ Dean said. ‘Buyers will be paying to heat and run a property for decades, and building homes now that need costly upgrades or retrofitting later simply pushes that burden onto future homeowners.’
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