The government is being sued for their proposal to allow housing developers in England to indirectly cause sewage contamination.

Wild Justice, in collaboration with Leigh Day, has filed a request for a legal review regarding an alleged “illegal effort to implement a modification through guidelines that was previously rejected in the House of Lords in the prior year.”

At present, in regions with high ecological importance such as the Lake District and Norfolk Broads, construction companies are required to limit the amount of sewage that enters waterways. This can be achieved by upgrading existing infrastructure or purchasing biodiversity credits, which enhance the surrounding natural environment and offset the additional pollution. These regulations were initially implemented by the EU to mitigate the harmful accumulation of algae and other vegetation that can harm aquatic organisms.

In the previous year, Michael Gove, the secretary in charge of levelling up, suggested a change to the levelling up and regeneration bill that would remove a certain directive from the law. This change would have given developers the freedom to disregard the regulations.

The proposed legislation was voted down twice in the House of Lords due to opposition from the Labour party, citing concerns about the risky nature of the plans.

Although the bill was successfully passed, the amendment was not approved. There are allegations that the government is attempting to reintroduce the amendment through a new notice, stating that planning authorities must assume that water companies have improved sewage systems to reduce pollution by 1 April 2030, even if they have not actually done so.

Despite the mandate for water companies to implement these enhancements, Wild Justice and Leigh Day contend that there is no means of verifying compliance, allowing home builders to continue polluting waterways beyond the designated deadline.

Ricardo Gama, a lawyer at Leigh Day, stated that despite strong opposition from environmental organizations and a loss in the House of Lords last year, our client believed that the government had wisely abandoned its efforts to eliminate legal safeguards for crucial habitats. However, the recent notice seems to be attempting to achieve the same goal in a covert manner.

The earlier revision also stated that planning authorities must consider the absence of any sewage pollution impact when evaluating new developments, in order to evade the regulations set by the EU.

The shadow environment secretary, Steve Reed MP, said: “The Conservative government created the housing crisis, then made it worse by scrapping housebuilding targets. To cover up that failure, they are cooking up plans that risk irreparable damage to rivers already awash with toxic sewage.

“Labour is dedicated to constructing the necessary homes for Britain, all while preserving our natural surroundings. We will expedite the planning procedure to begin construction and create 1.5 million homes during the upcoming parliamentary term, all while safeguarding our rivers from contamination.”

A representative from the government stated that the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act now allows for the identification of specific regions where water companies must enhance their wastewater treatment facilities to decrease nutrient pollution in our water systems by April 2030.

“These improvements will decrease pollution at its origin, providing environmental advantages, and also aid in making more homes available to communities by lessening the burden of implementing mitigation during development. If a water company fails to deliver upgrades within the specified timeline, they will be responsible for providing remediation.”

Source: theguardian.com