Ministers Cut Natural England's Mandatory Planning Checks to Speed Up Housebuilding

New homes under construction in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Ministers want routine schemes like this approved faster by cutting mandatory environmental checks. (Paul Harrop / Geograph Britain and Ireland, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Ministers have moved to cut the number of housing developments that need an environmental check from Natural England before planning permission can be granted, in a bid to speed up housebuilding across England.

Under new guidance published on 1 October, councils will get clear advice on when they must consult the environmental watchdog. The government intends to cut the number of applications requiring prior Natural England assessment by about a third, allowing routine schemes to be approved by local planning officers without waiting for the quango to respond.

Natural England is currently required by law to assess more than 22,000 planning applications a year, no matter how small the environmental risk. Ministers say the process adds weeks or months to routine applications and ties up the body's resources on consultations that often go nowhere.

Key facts

• Ministers plan to cut planning applications requiring Natural England assessment by about a third.
• New guidance published on 1 October tells councils when they must consult the watchdog.
• Natural England currently assesses 22,000+ planning applications a year, regardless of environmental risk.
• It misses its 21-working-day response target for around 10 per cent of applications.
• The change follows Section 57 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, which ended the body's duty to advise on every request.
• Angela Eagle, the environment secretary, says housing growth and nature recovery are "not in competition".

What ministers announced

The change rests on legislation already on the statute book. Section 57 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 amended the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, so Natural England no longer has to give advice on every request about planning permission, reserved matters or planning conditions.

Natural England published its Operational Statement on 1 October 2026, setting out how it will use that freedom. Planning specialists at Unda, reporting on the statement, describe a new four-tier approach to consultations:

• Acknowledgement only. Referrals that need no input, such as most householder applications and listed building consents, get an automated acknowledgement and nothing more.
• Standard response. Where standing advice or an agreed strategic solution covers the impact, Natural England points the council to it or replies "no comment".
• No further comment. Where earlier advice on a scheme still stands, it will not repeat itself unless the scheme, the evidence or the impacts have changed.
• Bespoke advice. Development in, or likely to significantly affect, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a habitats site or a protected landscape still gets tailored advice.

The body's role as a statutory consultee is unchanged, as are consultations under the Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats Regulations. The shift means scrutiny of routine schemes moves to councils, which will apply standing advice and secure mitigation themselves.

Why ministers are acting

The government argues the current system wastes time and expertise. Existing law requires Natural England to respond to all large-scale planning applications regardless of their environmental risk. It can reply "no comment" to applications it decides do not warrant its involvement, but it must still physically reply to every request. Ministers say that leads to thousands of pointless consultations.

The delays are real. The quango misses its target response time of 21 working days or less for about 10 per cent of planning applications. Planning consultancy Unda reports that in 2022-23, a total of 1,952 planning deadlines, 11 per cent of applications, were missed because Natural England lacked the staff to meet them. Performance has since improved, with 89 per cent of consultations answered on time in 2024-25, but one in ten is still late.

Natural England has also long been blamed for holding up housebuilding in parts of the country, including imposing what amounts to a total ban on housing developments in some areas over fears of pollution in waterways. For most housing schemes, the link to a protected site is water: where the drainage goes and what is in it.

James Stevens, a director at the Home Builders Federation, told The Times that statutory consultees like Natural England were one of the "major barriers to increasing housing supply".

"It can take years of negotiations with local authorities and other statutory bodies to get from an outline planning permission being awarded for a site, to the point where the housebuilder is actually allowed to start building," he said.

"Requiring Natural England to only be consulted on sites where there is a genuine environmental need for them to be is a sensible move that will help speed up the processing of planning applications, whilst still ensuring environmental issues are considered where needed."

What the government says

Angela Eagle, the environment secretary, said the change would let the watchdog concentrate on more complex projects.

"We're delivering the homes and infrastructure the country needs while recovering nature at scale, because fixing the housing crisis and environmental recovery are not in competition," she said.

"That's why we're ensuring Natural England can focus its expertise where it matters most, so councils can speed up planning decisions while the natural environment we all depend on is properly protected and restored."

In response to fears for the environment, government sources pointed to a £79 million package to support community-led projects to restore nature, including planting 500,000 new trees.

Neil Hornby, Natural England's chief executive, said the new approach would focus the body's expertise "where it can have the greatest impact for nature, while supporting efficient decision making across the planning system".

"Natural England is laser-focused on advancing nature recovery and meeting key legal Environment Act targets, while supporting the government's ambition for good growth in every postcode."

What is still unknown

The details of the guidance will matter as much as the headline. Natural England formally objects to fewer than 1 per cent of the planning applications it is consulted on, according to its chair. But that figure counts formal objections only. It leaves out "further information required" responses, which is where much of the delay sits. Each round of questions means new evidence, a fresh consultation and another response period.

There is a gap in the new system that developers will be watching. Unda notes that the standing advice Natural England publishes covers protected species, ancient woodland and air pollution, but none of it sets a water quality standard for surface water or sewage discharging towards a protected site. A council officer judging drainage near a protected site may have neither a published standard nor tailored advice to check it against.

Environmental groups are also likely to push back. The move follows other reforms to speed up planning, and last month The Times revealed separate plans to let developers pay a one-off "nature recovery" charge, about £2,000 per property, to fast-track approval where new housing could cause ecological damage. Ministers claimed that scheme would allow almost 16,000 homes to be built while raising about £30 million to restore waterways. Developers welcomed the predictability but warned ministers still had almost no chance of meeting their pledge to build 1.5 million new homes by the next election, with planning applications and approvals at record lows.

What happens next

The guidance is in force now and the Operational Statement is being brought in gradually, with more standing advice and guidance promised. The August 2026 National Planning Policy Framework already tightened the tests for development affecting protected sites, so councils will be applying the new consultation rules against that backdrop.

The real test will be whether councils can handle the extra checking themselves. Under the new approach, where standing advice or an agreed strategic solution applies, the council applies it, secures any mitigation and enforces it. The legal protections for protected sites stay in place. What changes is who does the detailed work, and how long it takes.

If ministers are right, thousands of routine schemes will move faster and Natural England will spend its time on the cases that genuinely threaten wildlife and habitats. If they are wrong, the planning system will have traded one bottleneck for another, with councils left to judge technical questions they are not equipped to answer.

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Sources

• The Times, "Thousands of housing schemes will not require environmental checks", 1 Oct 2026
• Unda, "Natural England and SSSIs: What It Means for Planning", 1 Oct 2026
• Natural England, Operational Statement on planning consultations, published 1 Oct 2026 (via GOV.UK)