The Home Builders Federation recently estimated that plans for around 100,000 new homes are now on hold, effectively indefinitely, over the technical issue of nutrient pollution in water courses. The estimate comes after fresh Natural England guidance was detonated over unsuspecting councils in mid‑March, which both increased the number of affected council areas from 32 to 74, and raised the bar for those areas already struggling with the issue.

The new guidance, which was issued without warning or consultation, has left many affected local authorities and developers with their heads in their hands, at a loss to know how to proceed. The effective upshot of the advice, which identifies a raft of protected habitats in a poor condition from pollution, is that councils cannot issue any residential permissions in which nutrient pollution is not fully mitigated or offset, as it would immediately be struck down by judicial review.