Will Labour's ambitious housebuilding programme come at the cost to the natural environment?

IEMA recently provided written evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee's inquiry on "Environmental Sustainability and Housing Growth”  IEMA’s consultation response draws on extensive engagement with planning reforms since 2020, including reviews of NSIP reforms, Environmental Outcome Reports (EORs), and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

While acknowledging some positive updates in the NPPF, IEMA expresses concerns that the proposed measures may not adequately protect the environment, especially when balancing housing growth, infrastructure development, and economic priorities against long-term environmental resilience.

Key Recommendations from IEMA include:

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Maintaining Robust Environmental Protections:

  • The ongoing planning reforms should include explicit, enforceable measures to safeguard natural resources and meet environmental targets.
  • "Streamlining" sustainable development and introducing EORs reforms risk undermining existing protections particularly on social aspects of impact assessment.
  • IEMA is concerned that any reforms that are not accompanied by significant increases in capacity and resources across the planning system and statutory bodies will likely lead to increased delays.

Integrating Environmental, Social, and Economic Factors Equally:

  • Sustainable development must equally prioritize climate action, biodiversity net gain, habitat conservation, and community well-being alongside economic growth.
  • Emphasis on place-based solutions that enhance green infrastructure, nature-based solutions, reduce carbon emissions, and support cohesive, healthy communities.

Strengthening Strategic and Cross-Boundary Planning:

  • IEMA supports reinstating regional strategic planning to foster cross-boundary collaboration to address complex environmental challenges. However, new strategic planning needs to be accompanied by enhanced strategic environmental assessments and robust impact assessments led by qualified experts.

Ensuring Transparency, Participation, and Accountability:

  • Current public participation and stakeholder engagement practice is weak and should be strengthened and prioritized in both planning and assessment processes.
  • Planning should be supported by transparent methodologies and accessible data, for example on Scope 3 emissions of oil and gas developments, so that the public and decisions makers have accurate information on which to reach decisions and form judgements.

Fostering Low-Carbon and Climate-Resilient Development:

  • The Government must align planning policies with carbon reduction goals by mandating low-carbon, climate-adaptive standards and integrating land-use, transport, and infrastructure planning. This should be supported with consistent, auditable carbon accounting approaches.

Prioritizing Regeneration and Sustainable Locations:

  • There is a genuine opportunity to support healthier urban environments and local economies through strategic regeneration. However, there needs to be a shift in focus from punitive housing targets, leading to unsustainable development of inappropriate sites, to revitalizing urban areas, creating well-connected communities, and reducing car-dependent sprawl.

IEMA calls for planning and policy reforms that maintain robust environmental safeguards, integrate climate, biodiversity, and health considerations, and adopt evidence-based, participatory approaches. This is essential to achieve genuinely sustainable development that ensures environmental quality, public health, and long-term community resilience.

Read IEMA's full response here


Published by:
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Rufus Howard FIEMA

Policy and Engagement Lead

Dr Howard is the policy and engagement lead for Impact Assessment at IEMA and a leading professional in EIA, with two decades of international experience across renewable energy and major infrastructure. A Fellow of IEMA and Chartered Environmentalist, Rufus holds degrees in Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Law, and a doctorate in Management. A trusted advisor, Rufus has directed environmental projects for major organisations such as the World Bank, The Crown Estate, Natural Resources Wales, the EBRD, Statkraft, Orsted, National Grid, and the Environment Agency. Rufus lives in Kent with his wife and three daughters and enjoys walking in nature, cooking, music, kayaking and archery.