Labour MP urges watchdog to halt Norfolk Broads housebuilding plan
A UK Labour MP, Chris Hinchliff, is asking the environmental watchdog to intervene in a plan allowing nearly 16,000 homes in the Norfolk Broads if developers pay into a nature restoration fund. Critics say the scheme weakens environmental protection.
Chris Hinchliff, the Labour MP for North East Hertfordshire, is urging the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), England's environmental watchdog, to intervene and stop approval of a plan that would permit 15,780 new homes in the Norfolk Broads, one of the UK's most protected natural areas. It is the first plan of its kind and is expected to serve as a blueprint for later ones.
How the scheme works
Under the government's planning reforms, damage to protected habitats and species can be overlooked if developers pay into a central nature restoration fund, which finances conservation work at a later date. Critics call these environmental delivery plans (EDPs) "cash to trash" and say they roll back decades of environmental law.
In the Norfolk Broads, developers would pay £2,675 per house, £42m in total. The area is home to more than a quarter of the UK's rarest plants and animals. Natural England, the government's nature adviser, drew up the plan and acknowledges the development will cause harm through increased nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. The Broads already need nutrient pollution cut by 91–97% to recover.
The MP's objections
In a letter to OEP chief executive Natalie Prosser, Hinchliff argues the plan breaches the Planning and Infrastructure Act and is not based on the best available science. On Natural England's own figures, about 83% of the extra nitrogen and up to 61% of the extra phosphorus would still reach the water. Measures such as upgrading septic tanks and planting riverside buffer strips are not included; instead the plan relies on steps such as fen cutting and deer control.
Ministers say the plans are needed to unblock growth as they pursue a target of 1.5m new homes by the end of this parliament. Natural England and the government say the plan is based on the latest evidence. The consultation closes on 31 October.
