A WILTSHIRE housing association has written to Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner pleading for her help over an ‘under thought’ pollution rule that is delaying plans for social housing in rural areas.

Mrs Rayner, who is also Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government and is spearheading the new Labour Government’s mission for housebuilding, has been told by White Horse Housing Association Chief Executive Steve Warran that Nutrient Neutrality regulations are adding an extra financial burden to developments and making them unviable.

The regulations imposed on local authorities by Natural England force them to seek compensation from developers to protect rivers from pollution and sewage run-offs from new homes. The rules unfairly impact rural areas where there is less infrastructure, said Mr Warran.

The housing association has 430 homes in rural areas across Wiltshire and Somerset but, said Mr Warran, it is being hampered in trying to meet the needs of countryside communities because building more is being made unviable by the regulations.

Broad Chalke Community Land Trust chairman Dan Richter, left, board member Ian Walkden  and treasurer Tom Hitchings with White Horse Housing Association Operations Director Belinda Eastland at the River Ebble in the village  (Image: White Horse Housing Association) In his letter he quoted the example of a project for six two and three-bedroomed homes in Knighton Road, Broad Chalke, near Salisbury, for rental and shared ownership, in partnership with the Broad Chalke Community Land Trust, which has taken eight years to get off the ground.

He wrote: “This development fully complies with the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan… funding is secured and planning approval has been granted. However the whole project suddenly had to be halted because of Wiltshire Council’s recent Nutrient Neutrality policy. Overall, our scheme is calculated to produce 7.5kg of phosphate which represents just a tiny fraction of this massive problem.

“The council does, however, have a plan to mitigate this problem – a plan that will demand a payment from us of over £290,000 – a payment that would render the scheme totally unviable.

“So here we are at the twelfth hour, with the community we have been working with now disillusioned, disappointed and deflated because another blockage, another obstacle, another well-meaning but under thought initiative, has been forced upon the planning system and wiped out all the hard work and ambition of local people trying to bring forward affordable homes for their community.”

The site in Knighton Road, Broad Chalke, where six new affordable homes are being blocked by Nutrient Neutrality regulations  (Image: White Horse Housing Association) Broad Chalke Parish Council Chairman Tom Hitchings, who is the CLT’s treasurer, said the trust is concerned about any new development affecting the River Ebble in the village, which is an ancient chalk stream. “We aren’t saying we want the scheme to be exempt from the Nutrient Neutrality regulations because we don’t care about the river being polluted, far from it,” he said. “We just want any required measures to be funded by some other means so that these badly needed homes for local people can be built.”

Mr Warran said the issue with Nutrient Neutrality is replicated across the country, with thousands of affordable homes being left in limbo. He has asked Mrs Rayner to meet him and other housing associations to discuss the issue and proposed that social housing projects be excluded from the regulations.

He asked Mrs Rayner: “What is the point of trying to regulate nutrient neutrality in our rivers when this policy blocks the basic right of a decent affordable home for those people who are excluded from buying one themselves due to low incomes, disability or poverty?”

Mr Warran said he was driven to write the letter because of his dismay at the frustration experienced in Broad Chalke, where years of hard work – estimated at 4,500 hours of volunteer time – has been wasted. “With the new government making housing such a central issue in its early days I hope this will be a cue for the rules to be relaxed to unlock much-needed housebuilding all across the country and particularly here in Wiltshire,” he said. “We await the Deputy PM’s reply with interest.”

For more about the housing association services, go to whitehorsehousing.co.uk.