"Almost everywhere I've gone in recent weeks, people have asked about nutrient neutrality and the implications of proposals to remove these protections for our water environment through government amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. Many of these conversations have been started by people who would not normally engage me in environmental discussions. 
 
The decision by the House of Lords on September 13th (reached across political affiliations) to block the government’s amendments sends a strong message that as a nation we do not want to see our environmental protections weakened and our nation’s habitats and species depleted even further.

We are all better off when we work with nature, not against it.

If you were one of the people who worked on or campaigned so hard in recent weeks to ensure current protections stay in place, you should be rightly proud of your contribution and the difference you have made.  
 
Houses and nature should never be an ‘either/or’ decision. Without nature, a house in not a home. We all need somewhere to rest our heads at the end of a long day. However, good design and consideration of the full impacts of development is vital. Nutrient neutrality schemes this last year have unlocked tens of thousands of homes in effected catchments, while ensuring the problems facing our water environments from new developments get no worse. I've been proud to work alongside colleagues at Durham Wildlife Trust, The Wildlife Trusts, Local Authorities, Natural England and local businesses to invest in and provide the solutions our wider environment so badly needs. 
 
The proposal - like that recently tabled as part of the scrapping of the nutrient neutrality rules – to provide funding as an alternative to legal protection is simply not good enough. The two can and should work in harmony to provide the best outcomes for nature, people and the economy. Better protections and better targeted funding. Sense prevailed thanks to the decision in the House of Lords! 
 
To all those who have been tirelessly working this last year and before, finding and providing nutrient neutrality solutions, and those who work across sectors to reduce pollution in our waterways: keep up the good work protecting our precious environment and unlocking nature's solutions!"