The government’s chief planner has admitted that the package of measures announced last week to tackle the “nutrient neutrality” problem behind a 100,000-home development hiatus won’t make any immediate difference in “most” affected areas.

In a letter to local authority planners, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) chief planner, Joanna Averley, said that because the focus of the government’s measures was addressing nutrient pollution at source, “in most catchments they won’t remove the nutrient neutrality requirement” immediately.

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