Cabinet sources have told broadcaster NOS that the current programme to tackle nitrogen-based pollution is being torn up, and that the 12 Dutch provinces can call a halt on their efforts to comply.

The plan, known by the acronym NPLG, passed responsibility for tackling excess nitrogen to the provinces, which would all draw up their own programmes to meet environmental targets. If one province managed to improve, that would allow it to issue new permits for housing, for example.

The provinces have been working on the plans for two years and have called to the policy to continue, with more cash.

But new farm minister Femke Wiersma, who represents the farmers’ party BBB, is highly critical of the current strategy and the new government has scrapped the €20 billion budget for the programme.

Instead, it has allocated €5bn to reduce farm-based nitrogen pollution and €500 million to farmers who take measures to improve nature. Wiersma also hopes to win an exemption from EU targets for the Netherlands in Brussels.

The minister had already told the provinces that the October 1 deadline was being delayed and now sources suggest the strategy is being torn up altogether.

Alternative plans are likely to be presented on September 17, when the new right-wing government’s first budget is published, NOS said.