B

Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 15 September 2025

Debate

Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Contribution

My Lords, I support the general thrust of the amendments in the name of my noble friend Lord Roborough. The focus of Natural England is bureaucratic and precautionary, as we heard from my noble friend Lord Caithness. We need to find a way around the freezing of housing developments by Natural England under its nutrient neutrality rules. This is a real growth killer in those areas. My noble friend Lord Roborough has tried to find an immediate remedy in some of his amendments; I encourage the Minister to look at them and perhaps come forward with some further amendments to this important Bill. I remind the Committee that page 6 of the Explanatory Notes says that the Bill “intends to speed up and streamline the delivery of new homes and critical infrastructure”. My worry is that Part 3 gives Natural England the power to bring about the opposite.

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