Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 9
6th Report - Environmental sustainability and housing growth
Published 16 Nov 2025
Environmental Audit Committee Environmental sustainability and housing growth All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Any future national spatial planning or land use policies, such as a Land Use Framework or Spatial Development Strategies, must be aligned with, and complimentary to, all environmental targets, frameworks and policies. These include but are not limited to: Environment Act 2021 86 targets, the Environmental Improvement Plan, Biodiversity Net Gain, Nature Recovery Networks, Environmental Land Management Schemes, Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS), Environmental Delivery Plans (if in existence) and Flood Plans. The relationships between LNRS and other spatial planning and nature policies, such as the ones noted above, should be made clear. In its response to this report, Government should lay out how each of the policies mentioned above align and work together. (Recommendation, Paragraph 58)
From: Environmental Audit Committee, 6th Report - Environmental sustainability and housing growth (HC 439), 16 November 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 13 March 2026 (deadline 16 January 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the Committee's inquiry and says it will "continue to implement our reforms to maintain environmental protection while accelerating housing growth", responding to each of the 39 recommendations in turn.
- On the presumption in favour of sustainable development, the Government is consulting on changes within the wider NPPF consultation published on 16 December 2025, and says it "will consider the responses received" before finalising a revised Framework.
- On whole-life carbon assessments, the Government "is not currently considering adopting the RICS methodology" as the UK industry standard, but will "keep it under review". It intends to "maintain a voluntary approach" to carbon accounting rather than mandate it.
- On ecological resource hubs, the Government agrees that ecological expertise is critical but does not consider separate hubs "currently necessary", and says it will keep this under review. It also states it has "no plans" for mandatory ecology and carbon training in planning qualifications.
- On taxation, the Government says it "does not plan to review council tax on the basis of embodied carbon". On VAT, it states that the Chancellor is responsible for decisions on tax policy, taken at fiscal events.