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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Department has made of how current planning policy frameworks influence the advisory and regulatory role of Natural England in relation to large housing allocations affecting protected habitats.

Defra’s Regulatory Landscape Review, led by Dan Corry, was published in April 2025. As part of our work to implement its recommendations, we will soon publish Strategic Policy Statements for Natural England and the Environment Agency. These will set out expectations for their contribution towards our growth mission, particularly around reaching our ambitious homebuilding targets and fast-tracking major infrastructure projects.

The Corry review and the 2025 Post-Implementation Review of the Habitats Regulations both concluded that improvements could be made to the functioning of the Habitats Regulations. We are working with stakeholders to improve guidance on Habitats Regulations Assessments, including clarifying the respective roles of Natural England as a statutory consultee and planning authorities as decision makers on planning applications.

Natural England is a statutory consultee on planning applications and offers advice and guidance to planning authorities, but planning authorities are ultimately responsible for planning decisions, including imposing planning conditions where necessary to make development acceptable. The National Planning Policy Framework reinforces statutory protections, including by setting out how planning conditions should be used.