From BBC
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Environmental rules that force developers in England to improve wildlife habitats could be eased under government plans to make it easier to build homes on smaller sites.
The government is reviewing Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements, under which builders must compensate for the loss of any nature on housing developments.
Ministers say they are considering how costs can be reduced for smaller housebuilders whilst also delivering habitats for wildlife.
The proposals are part of a package of housing reforms to be set out by the Labour government on Wednesday.
The Conservatives said they had been pushing the government to do more to support small businesses.
Housing Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner wants to simplify the planning system to speed up house-building on smaller sites.
There are plans to ease BNG requirements for minor developments of up to nine homes and give trained planning officers rather than councillors the power to approve them.
Ministers have also suggested exempting sites of between 10 and 49 homes from a tax to fund the removal of unsafe cladding.
The government said smaller firms had seen their market share shrink since the 1980s, when small- and medium-sized builders delivered 40% of the country’s homes, and the changes would “level the playing field”.
Speaking to broadcasters on Wednesday, Rayner said the changes would “simplify” the planning process and denied she was compromising environmental protections, adding: “this is pragmatism”.
The shadow secretary for local government, Kevin Hollinrake, said Labour was “stripping councillors of the right to vote on local planning applications,
