Local authorities will have to ignore the effect of nutrient pollution when granting planning permission in specially protected areas, under amendments tabled yesterday by the government to address the nutrient neutrality crisis affecting housebuilding.

The amendments to the Habitats Regulations, which go further than indicated by the government’s press release on the subject yesterday, state that planning authorities “must assume” that nutrients won’t affect protected sites when making decisions, even if Natural England tells them the opposite.

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