Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the letter from the Chair of the Office for Environmental Protection to the Deputy Prime Minister on 2 May concerning the Planning and Infrastructure Bill which stated that “In our considered view, the bill would have the effect of reducing the level of environmental protection provided for by existing environmental law”, on what basis they made a statement under section 20(3) rather than subsection (4) of the Environment Act 2021.

Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill concerning development and nature recovery will not reduce overall levels of environmental protection.

Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs) can only be put in place where the Secretary of State is satisfied the delivery of conservation measures are likely to outweigh the negative effects of development.

EDPs and the conservation measures they propose must be evidence-based and properly scrutinised before being put in place. EDPs may include back-up measures that can be deployed if monitoring shows the environmental outcomes are not being achieved.

Natural England will be empowered and given the tools to deliver the conservation measures needed to secure the aims of the EDP.

The government is confident that this more strategic approach to the assessment of negative effects, and delivery of conservation measures, strikes the right balance and will result in better environmental outcomes that go further than simply offsetting harm as required under current legislation.