Newts should not be more protected than people who need homes, Angela Rayner has said ahead of an overhaul of national planning guidelines.
The housing secretary suggested previous governments had got the balance wrong between building more houses and protecting local wildlife.
Speaking on Trevor Phillips on Sunday on Sky News, Rayner said: “We can’t have a situation where a newt is more protected than people who desperately need housing.
“What we need is a process which says protect the nature and wildlife but not at the expense of us building the houses we need. We can do both,” she said. “I believe we can offset, look after them, but at the same time not stop building.”
Asked about developments being blocked because of their impact on wildlife such as the black-legged kittiwake, Rayner said: “Environmental factors will be taken into account, but we can’t have a situation where we have a desperate housing crisis and we can’t resolve things like nutrient neutrality, which we believe we can.
“We can’t have a situation where we can’t build those houses. There’s mitigations you can make. I cannot accept the situation as it stands currently.”
The government plans to unveil sweeping changes this week to the national planning policy framework, the document which sets out national priorities for building, after a consultation.
The changes are expected to include mandatory housing targets intended to meet Labour’s pledge to build 1.5m homes during this parliament.
Rayner said ministers would remove some of the “subjective reasons” for planning being refused and that “there will be clarity to ensure that we don’t see buildings stalled for years and years”.
Asked whether the changes would remove some of the objections that could be made to stop developments, Rayner said yes.
The housing secretary, who is also the deputy prime minister, said building more homes would stop prices from rising further and pricing new buyers out.
She told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: “I want to fix the supply so those homes are available, and then house prices won’t be going further and further away from people’s needs.
“It’s about supply and making sure that those houses are there and available so that people can afford them and are able to get them. If we don’t fix supply, then house prices will continue to go up as demand goes up.”
Rayner denied the government was taking powers away from local councils. “I don’t accept that, because we’re saying they have to have a local plan,” she said.
“What we’ve seen, because we haven’t had these compulsory plans locally, is speculative development where green belt land has been developed on because we haven’t had the local plan that delivers for local people.
“We’ve told councils they’ve got to have those plans. If developers follow the framework, the national framework which protects environments … they shouldn’t be stuck in the system for years.”
Richard Fuller, a shadow Treasury minister, said Labour’s goal of building 1.5m homeswas a reasonable target, but added: “If you want to achieve that, you’ve got to bring the people with you, and, unfortunately, Labour seem to be saying that Angela is best and local people can be ignored.”
