Desperate Government makes taxpayers foot the bill for developers’ pollution

Michael Gove’s announcement that taxpayers will foot the bill for developers dumping nitrates and phosphates into rivers is “a shocking abandonment of environmental promises and appalling use of taxpayers money”.

The Government’s own Office for Environmental Protection has called the move “a demonstrable regression in legal environmental protections”. The proposed legislation removes protections stopping developers from adding pollution to already polluted waterways. Around £300 million of taxpayers money will now be spent on mitigating the pollution that will be caused by this development.

Local Liberal Democrat Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani, said: “If the Government wants to spent £300 million on increasing development, why isn’t it putting the money into the cost of cleaning up brownfield sites instead? That way we get the houses we need, and clean up already contaminated areas.

“Instead we get a half-baked scheme where pollution is added to already polluted areas, and we the taxpayers foot the bill.”

The Government has only just cut the funding for the Canal and River Trust – coincidentally by £300 million – already putting waterways at threat.

Councillor Al-Hamdani is proposing a motion to Oldham Council’s meeting on Wednesday calling for the “polluter pays” principle to be enshrined across the industry – which would ensure that if developers cause pollution, they would pick up the bill, not the taxpayer.

Sam continued: “We clearly need more houses building; but developers are sitting on over 1.1 million homes that already have planning permission that aren’t built. Why are we spending a third of a billion pounds on just a fraction of those homes at the cost of polluting our rivers and streams?

“This really is a Government who has run out of ideas, run out of steam, and run out of competent ministers.”