The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has appointed economist Dan Corry, a former adviser to Gordon Brown, to carry out an internal review into the regulation and regulators.
The review will examine the extent to which the regulatory landscape economic growth and what might be changed without jeopardising the natural environment.
“This review is long overdue,” was the reaction of Richard Beresford, chief executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB).
Beresford said: “The previous government took a very siloed view of environmental regulation and despite regular engagement, including with committees, the views of the construction sector were broadly ignored. This has not only created a more challenging landscape for development but has also led to worse environmental outcomes.”
Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy and market insight at the NFB, added: “If the previous government had listened to the house-building industry, nutrient neutrality would have delivered cleaner water, and biodiversity net gain would have focused more on biodiversity, rather than broad habitats. Growth and the environment have been treated as zero sum, when they are anything but.”
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