Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of the marine protected area network is in (a) effective management and (b) favorable condition.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have established a comprehensive network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) covering 40% of English waters and last year introduced a new statutory MPA target. All MPAs are protected through the planning and licensing process. We are also working with regulators to introduce any necessary additional management measures. 60% of the 181 English MPAs are already protected from damaging fishing activity through byelaws, including the new byelaw announced in February to ban bottom trawling in a further 13 MPAs. Our scientific advisors (Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee) are developing an MPA monitoring strategy to assess progress towards meeting the statutory MPA target, including whether the necessary management measures are in place. The current estimate is that 44% of our protected features are in favourable condition.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of current planning legislation in limiting light pollution of the night skies in England.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The National Planning Policy Framework states that planning policies and decisions should “limit the impact of light pollution from artificial light on local amenity, intrinsically dark landscapes and nature conservation.”
The character of the area and the surrounding environment is already a material consideration about what will be considered an appropriate level of lighting for a development. This applies to both new housing and new commercial developments.
Asked by: Siobhan Baillie (Conservative - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to recommendation 4.10 in the Annex entitled Guidelines for the implementation of the wise use concept in the publication entitled Guidelines for development and implementing National Wetland Policies adopted by Resolution VII.6 of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, whether his Department plans to formulate a National Wetland Strategy.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK plays an active role to support and implement the conservation and wise use of wetlands through the Ramsar Convention. In England we are not currently planning to publish a separate National Wetland Strategy but have set out our plan to recover nature and restore our habitats and wetlands in the revised Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP23), as well as our England Peat Action Plan. We are also meeting our commitments under the Ramsar Convention, as laid out in our Environmental Improvement Plan and the National Adaptation Plan, through establishing a UK Wetland Inventory - mapping our wetlands for the first time and supporting future action to protect these vital habitats.
We recognise that wetland restoration will be critical to protect the vast number of wetland species as well as providing critical nature-based solutions to climate change mitigation and adaption. By 2030 we have domestically committed to halt the decline in species abundance and by 2042 we aim to reverse species decline; to reduce the risk of species extinction; and to restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitats outside protected sites. Many wetlands are also Protected Sites, of which we have committed to restore 75% to favourable condition by 2042.
Alongside setting targets in other areas including water and air quality, we are taking targeted action to recover our wetlands. Our recently announced and government-supported Lost Wetlands Nature Recovery Project will reclaim, restore and rewet a mosaic of wetland habitats over 5,000ha in South Greater Manchester and North Cheshire, previously lost to industrialisation, urbanisation and agricultural intensification. Defra has also launched a 60,000-hectare Nature Recovery Project focusing on the Somerset Wetlands, with the 6,140-hectare super National Nature Reserve at its heart. These projects will enhance connectivity, species recovery and resilience to climate change.
Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Habitats Directive on airfield planning applications.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is supportive of airport growth where it can be delivered within its environmental obligations.
Every development proposal should be judged by the relevant planning authority, taking careful account of all relevant considerations, including environmental impacts and proposed mitigations.
Airport planning applications need to take into account the European Commission Habitats Directive where they could lead to significant impacts on areas of nature conservation, which could include a Habitat Regulations Assessment of the implications of the plans for that site.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on taking light pollution into account when considering applications for new housing developments.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that policies and decisions should ensure that a new development is appropriate for its location. These should take into account the likely effects of pollution on health, living conditions, including the risk of overheating, and the natural environment. Government policy is that by encouraging good design, planning policies and decisions should limit the impact of light pollution from artificial light on local amenity, intrinsically dark landscapes and nature conservation.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking with local authorities to help reduce light pollution in new housing developments.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that policies and decisions should ensure that a new development is appropriate for its location. These should take into account the likely effects of pollution on health, living conditions, including the risk of overheating, and the natural environment. Government policy is that by encouraging good design, planning policies and decisions should limit the impact of light pollution from artificial light on local amenity, intrinsically dark landscapes and nature conservation.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2023 to Question 183276 on Grass: Plastics, what steps her Department plans to take to help people and companies make the right choice, in the context of the purchase of artificial grass.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have taken a number of steps to help people and companies make the right choice in the purchase and use of artificial grass. In the 25 Year Environment Plan, we committed to introduce stronger new standards for green infrastructure and to support local authorities to assess provision. This new Green Infrastructure Framework was launched by Natural England in February. This shows what good green infrastructure looks like and helps local authorities, developers and communities to improve provision in their area. Included in this framework is a planning and design guide that references guidance on permeable surfaces in front gardens and advice from the RHS on the greening of front gardens, driveways and parking areas.
The Environment Act 2021 contains an ambitious package of reforms to restore and enhance nature and green spaces. This includes a new mandatory requirement for biodiversity net gain in the planning system, to ensure that new developments enhance biodiversity. In future, eligible developments will be required to enhance biodiversity through the biodiversity net gain requirement. This will incentivise more nature positive development.
The strengthened biodiversity duty, which came into force on 1st January 2023, requires all public authorities to consider how they can conserve and enhance biodiversity through the exercise of their functions. Public authorities will also have to have regard to Local Nature Recovery Strategies, Species Conservation Strategies and Protected Site Strategies in complying with the duty.
More widely, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities consulted in December 2022 on updating the National Planning Policy Framework to recognise the threat to wildlife created by developers using artificial grass when building new homes. The response to this consultation will be published in the Autumn.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to help ensure that his proposals to reform the nutrient neutrality regime accommodate schemes already agreed with (a) Natural England and (b) local planning authorities.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government is acting to unblock 100,000 homes and to address the underlying sources of nutrient pollution. The Government has made £280 million funding available to Natural England to enable the current approach to mitigation schemes and associated credit markets to evolve
Under the new arrangements, Natural England, DEFRA, and DLUHC will work with local authorities and third parties to deliver strategic interventions which can reduce excess nutrients and support the recovery of protected sites. This will build on current mitigation schemes and engage with the future pipeline of potential schemes, across the public, private and conservation sectors.
Our ambition is to move as quickly as possible to ensure real world environmental benefits are secured alongside new housing delivery. This means establishing a strategic approach for catchments that offsets the limited nutrients outflow from new housing at the same time as starting to restore Habitats Sites which are in a poor condition due to excess nutrients.
The expertise of local authorities and Natural England will be hugely valuable in targeting interventions to the right places, thereby maximising benefits for water quality, people, and nature.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department has in place to ensure renewable energy (a) facilities and (b) infrastructure do not damage natural habitats and ecosystems in which they are constructed.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government remains committed to delivering on our legally binding targets to achieve clean, safe, healthy, biologically diverse and productive seas, whilst supporting renewable energy development to meet our Net Zero targets.
All renewable energy developments will go through a planning and consenting process. Depending on the size and nature of the development, different Government departments, regulators and statutory nature conservation bodies will be involved. Each development will be assessed for its potential to impact natural habitats and species. Appropriate mitigation and, if necessary, compensation measures will be specified.
The Government intends to mandate biodiversity net gain for all new major development under the Town and Country Planning Act (1990) from November this year, for minor development from April 2024 and for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects from 2025.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the way brownfield sites may be used for nature rich environments.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Specific discussions on the use of brownfield sites for nature-rich environments have not taken place between the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
The Environment Act 2021 introduced a number of policies that will support the restoration of habitat, including identifying areas in urban communities where nature recovery could be particularly beneficial.
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) and a strengthened biodiversity duty on public authorities will work together to drive action, including to create or restore habitats that enable wildlife to recover and thrive, while conservation covenants will help secure habitat for the long term. LNRSs will provide the spatial framework for the Nature Recovery Network, which will guide creation, restoration and connectivity of habitats and sites to create mosaics of wildlife-rich habitat, including in urban communities; and incentivise private partnerships.
The Green Infrastructure Framework, launched in January, will help local planning authorities and developers to create or improve green infrastructure.