Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the process for approving nutrient mitigation schemes; and whether she is taking steps to streamline the process.

DLUHC, Defra, and Natural England will be in touch with local authorities who proposed mitigation schemes for their areas, and Natural England will set out its plans for the new scheme very soon. Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) require sufficient certainty to enable them to grant planning permission for new development relying on nutrient mitigation. The Government recognises that this certainty has not been available in many of the catchments impacted by nutrient neutrality, and this has led to barriers to much needed new homes. This is why we have announced our new approach.