Amount of nutrients entering rivers from new homes is very small compared to other sources - Michael Gove

On delivery, despite a challenging global economic backdrop our approach has ensured we are on track to meet our manifesto target of delivering 1 million new homes in this Parliament.

Since 2010, over 2.2 million new homes have been delivered and millions of people have moved into home ownership. Since 2010, we have delivered over 659,500 new affordable homes, including over 458,700 affordable homes for rent, of which over 166,300 homes were for social rent.

On 24 July, I set out more detail on this Government’s ongoing commitment to housing supply and regeneration, including 10 principles which underpin my Department’s long-term plan for housing, as well as transformational plans to deliver a new era of regeneration, inner-city densification and the delivery of beautiful, safe, decent homes.

This detail builds on our existing commitments to deliver one million new homes by the end of this Parliament and continue our progress towards achieving 300,000 new homes per year, whilst maintaining the protections that matter most to local people.

The first and most important component of that plan is our programme of urban regeneration to densify our inner cities, unlocking benefits for the environment, productivity and a renaissance in city culture which is already supporting regeneration in towns and cities across the country.

As the next stage of this work, I announced ambitious programmes in a further three English cities, to deliver transformational change in Cambridge, inner London, and central Leeds.

We have committed to working with local partners in Leeds to regenerate the city centre, identify the remaining barriers to delivery of housing across key sites and support the development of the West Yorkshire mass transit system. We will provide additional revenue funding to accelerate this work.

On 29 August, the Environment Secretary and I announced a plan to unblock housing stalled by nutrient neutrality rules, while at the same time protecting and restoring our precious natural environment.

At present, legacy EU laws on nutrient neutrality are blocking the delivery of new homes, including cases where planning permission has already been granted. This has affected homebuilding of all types, from the redevelopment of empty spaces above high street shops, to affordable housing schemes, to new care homes and families building their own home.

The block on building is hampering local economies and threatening to put SME local builders out of business.

Nutrients entering our rivers are a real problem, but the contribution made by new homes is very small compared with that from other sources such as industry, agriculture and our existing housing stock.

An abridged version of a speech delivered by Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, at the House of Commons.