Committee publication · Report · 16 November 2025 · HC 439

6th Report - Environmental sustainability and housing growth

Inquiry: Environmental sustainability and housing growth

Government response deadline: 16 January 2026

Summary

The Environmental Audit Committee's sixth report examines whether the Government can deliver 1.5 million new homes this Parliament while meeting legally binding environmental targets to halt and reverse nature's decline by 2030/2042. The Committee concludes these aims are achievable simultaneously, but identifies major systemic blockers: fragmented cross-government policy, siloed data systems, and critical shortages of ecological, planning, and construction skills. The report challenges the narrative that nature protection blocks housing delivery.

Key findings

The Government must publish Environmental Principles Policy Statement assessments for the NPPF and Planning and Infrastructure Bill to demonstrate compliance with the Environment Act 2021.
Fragmented data systems across government departments inhibit effective collaboration; a unified geospatial and environmental data platform is essential to improve decision-making on housing and nature recovery.
Severe shortages of ecologists, planning professionals, and construction workers are major obstacles to delivering both housing and environmental targets, regardless of legislation passed.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill's Nature Restoration Fund and Environmental Delivery Plans represent a substantive cross-government compromise, with evidence that DEFRA advocated successfully for environmental protections during the Bill's development.
The Committee rejects the Government's framing of environmental protection as a 'blocker' to development, arguing instead that a healthy environment is necessary for resilient communities and complementary to housing delivery.

Recommendations

The Government should set out how the NPPF and PIB comply with the EPPS, in line with sections 17 and 19 of the Environment Act 2021, providing two separate statements to the Committee.
Within 12 months, establish a shared geospatial and environmental data platform integrated with a case working system for use across government departments, arms-length bodies, and local planning authorities to facilitate cross-government collaboration on nature, planning, and housebuilding decisions.

Tone

Critical

Topics

housing-deliverybiodiversity-conservationenvironmental-governanceplanning-policyclimate-change

Key actors

Toby Perkins, Matthew Pennycook MP, Mary Creagh MP, Philip Duffy, Marian Spain, Natural England, Environment Agency, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Notable line

“All can be achieved simultaneously, with careful forethought and thorough planning. Yet the Government's approach thus far has appeared to be rushed and reactive.”

Key Quotes

“This report challenges the lazy narrative that nature is a blocker to housing delivery, instead arguing that a healthy environment is not a luxury but a necessity for resilient towns and neighbourhoods.”
— Environmental Audit Committee · Summary of the Committee's key message rejecting the framing of environmental protection as an obstacle to housing

“Crucially, the report identifies several key blockers in the system: A lack of cross-government policy alignment and co-ordination, fragmented data systems, and a dearth of ecological, planning and construction skills.”
— Environmental Audit Committee · Summary of systemic obstacles to delivering housing and nature recovery simultaneously

“"It is about having a more comprehensive environmental data system that all decision makers can access and, therefore, see the same evidence and analysis and reach at least better-informed judgments, 43 UK100 ( ESH0046 ); Natural England ( ESH0058 ) …”
— Marian Spain, Chief Executive of Natural England · Explaining the need for unified data systems to improve decision-making across organizations

“We believe that the Government can achieve the house building target and meet its environmental, nature and climate change targets, if it addresses the issues we identify and gives serious consideration to our recommended solutions.”
— Environmental Audit Committee · Concluding assessment of the feasibility of delivering all government objectives

“Though it may not be routine practice for the Government to publish EPPS assessments, we believe that, due to the intense public interest in the Government's planning and nature reforms, the Government should publish the EPPS assessments for the sake of transparency and public confidence.”
— Environmental Audit Committee · Recommending publication of Environmental Principles assessments despite lack of statutory requirement

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