Norfolk's newest lord has used his maiden parliamentary speech to call for an organisation which advises the government on environmental matters to have its powers watered down.

Lord Fuller, the former South Norfolk Council leader, said Natural England had held up the building of thousands of homes in Norfolk and threatened construction of the Norwich Western Link.

In his first speech in the House of Lords since he was made a life peer in March, Lord Fuller of Gorleston-on-Sea said: "It's the national agencies, often with their heavy-handed over-regulation that must share the blame for most of the delays and obfuscation in the planning system and by adding costs we can’t afford.

"It is time the veto over delivering new, affordable homes, establishing new communities and building new infrastructure is removed from Natural England who, in my experience and in that of Your Lordships' built environment committee have been found to be wanting."

READ MORE: CPRE Norfolk slams return of government housing targets

Decisions on new homes were left in limboDecisions on new homes were left in limbo (Image: Chris Bishop)

READ MORE: How two words left Norfolk's plans for thousands of homes in limbo

In March 2022, councils in Norfolk were told by Natural England they could not permit housing applications within catchment areas of the River Wensum and the Broads because nutrients created by development could go into waterways and harm species.

Councils were told it had to prove that developments would not lead to an increase in phosphate or nutrient run-off.

Or, if they would, then measures would be needed to mitigate for that, which led to councils trying to come with ways to ensure so-called 'nutrient neutrality', including paying a farmer almost £1m not to rear pigs on this land.

Lord Fuller said: "Not building new houses does nothing to clean up our rivers.

"Wheeling out rogue algorithms on bat populations should not blindly condemn towns to congestion for ever."

That was a reference to Natural England's pre-application advice to Norfolk County Council over the £274m Norwich Western Link.

A visualisation of the Norwich Western LinkA visualisation of the Norwich Western Link (Image: Newsquest)

The agency had said, based on evidence provided to date, it would be unlikely to award an environmental licence needed to move bats disturbed by construction of the Norwich Western Link.