Environment

News and in-depth coverage of environmental issues and the effect of climate change on town planning.

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Environment News

Wastewater treatment plant (Pic: Getty)

£110 million for nutrient neutrality mitigation schemes announced in Autumn Statement

The government will invest £110 million in nutrient neutrality mitigation schemes this financial year and the next, the chancellor has told Parliament.

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'Residents protest about CIL charges on rebuilding of homes destroyed by summer wildfires'

Reports on homeowners protesting about a council applying a planning levy on the rebuilding of their properties that were damaged by summer wildfires and on Oxford City Council's tough net zero policies in its draft local plan feature in our roundup of news in other media.

Marks and Spencer Oxford Street as it is now with (inset) plans for its future (Credit: SAVE Britain)

M&S given leave to progress judicial review of Gove’s refusal of flagship Oxford Street store revamp

Retail giant Marks & Spencer has been given permission by the High Court to progress its judicial review of levelling up secretary Michael Gove’s controversial decision to block plans for the demolition and rebuilding of its flagship Oxford Street store.

A visualisation of the scheme. Pic: IDPartnership

Inspector allows 300-home countryside scheme after finding no significant environmental impacts

A planning inspector has approved a 300-home scheme on a greenfield site in Sussex, after finding that the development would have only a “minimal landscape harm” on an area of outstanding natural beauty and would not significantly affect rare bats or increase pollution levels in protected sites.

Liverpool town hall

Council probes 'interception' by planning officers of resident’s emails objecting to proposed waste plant expansion

A city council is investigating how and why emails from a resident to his local councillor expressing concerns about proposals to expand a waste facility were reportedly intercepted by its planning department.

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'Natural England chair calls for more homebuilding on green belt'

A report on the chair of the government's conservation agency arguing that more homes should be built on the green belt with better-quality urban green spaces leads our roundup of news in other media.

Latest Environment Opinion

Planning is being abandoned by a government desperate to cling to power, by Graeme Bell

Opposition to measures intended to slow climate change is no reason to ditch vital policies, says our columnist

Privatised water has us swimming against a dirty tide - let’s clean it up, by Graeme Bell

The water companies are owned by overseas firms and are too cosy with the regulators. Is it any wonder we are swimming in the wrong stuff, says our columnist.

Letter: The government must legally bind the planning system to tackling climate change

As climate and planning amendments tabled to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill are debated next week from 4 September, a cross-section of campaigners criticise ministers for a lack of climate action.

Sustainable growth is unattainable when the right hand does not know what the left is doing, by Catriona Riddell

Planners need to step up to resolve the tensions between housing our citizens and protecting our precious environment. But central and local government structures that encourage silo thinking make this hard, says our columnist.

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Environment In Depth

Pic: Emma Austin/Getty Images.

The questions raised by the government’s latest guidance on biodiversity gain plans

The government has published draft guidance on biodiversity gain plans for developers and councils, but commentators have raised concerns about the resource implications for local authorities and say key details remain unclear.

A frog

The implications of the government’s decision to delay the onset of rules requiring developers to show biodiversity gains

A two-month delay in introducing the biodiversity net gain requirement for large sites is intended to allow time for local authorities and developers to prepare for its implementation, but with government guidance and regulations still to be published and authorities struggling to get resources in place, some practitioners suggest this pause may not be enough.

Michael Gove

The challenges facing the government’s proposed new bill to clear the nutrient neutrality homes gridlock

Michael Gove’s latest pledge to tackle the nutrient neutrality housebuilding crisis with new legislation will struggle to reach the statute books before the next general election, observers predict, and could make current pollution mitigation efforts redundant.

Rishi Sunak (Pic: Getty)

Ten key things you need to know from the past week

The ten most important news stories of the past week, including prime minister Rishi Sunak confirming that he is scrapping the northern leg of the HS2 rail link project and promising to invest £36 billion in “hundreds” of transport projects across the country.