Labour must reform biodiversity laws to boost housebuilding, trade body says
Housebuilders are calling on the government to reform its biodiversity quotas for developers to lessen the costs and delays they say it causes to businesses.
The Home Builders Federation (HBF), which represents the housebuilding industry, welcomed recent changes to biodiversity laws but said they do not go far enough in lifting the burden on housebuilders.
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is a scheme introduced in 2021 which requires new developments to leave wildlife habitats in a better state that they found them, by contributing a minimum 10 per cent increase in biodiversity value.
The HBF said the biodiversity requirement adds to existing cost and regulatory pressures on housebuilders, as the construction sector warns Labour’s pledge to build 1.5m homes by the next general election is under threat.
Eight in 10 firms say biodiversity targets ‘challenging’
As many as 84 per cent of housebuilders polled by the HBF – who included most of the country’s major building firms – said BNG is challenging to implement.
Nearly one third (29 per cent) said it is “very challenging” to meet the biodiversity requirements, and only four per cent say the targets have been “easy” or “very easy” to meet.
Housebuilders’ experience of the quotas has improved marginally since last year, the HBF said, when 92 per cent said the requirements are challenging and 38 per cent dubbed the laws “very challenging”.
The federation found 60 per cent of housebuilders still say BNG has contributed to their decision not to pursue sites that they would have developed otherwise.
Small and medium (SME) housebuilding firms find it harder to meet the biodiversity quotas than the larger businesses, according to the HBF’s report.
While 37 per cent of SME developers said implementation of BNG has been “very challenging,” only 13 per cent of large housebuilders said so.
Small housebuilders have said they are facing an “existential crisis” as their contribution to housebuilding in the UK plummets.
As many as 70 per cent of SME builders said market conditions are putting them off starting new developments, while their outlook is even more pessimistic in London.
Cost pressures hit housebuilding viability
A third of SME home builders said reforms to BNG – which include exempting developments below 0.2 hectares – will make meeting the biodiversity target easier.
The HBF said the ability of local authorities to provide the biodiversity assessments that BNG relies on is making the laws more of a burden on housebuilders.
The lack of resources and trained biodiversity professionals available to councils is delaying developments, according to 80 per cent of housebuilders.
Neil Jefferson, chief executive of the HBF, said: “The cumulative impact of Biodiversity Net Gain requirements and wider cost pressures is increasingly affecting the viability of housing developments, with too many sites becoming difficult to bring forward.
“The home building industry supports the goals of BNG and remains committed to delivering new homes alongside meaningful improvements to nature.”