Nutrient Neutrality – Getting It Right

On the 16th March 2022 Natural England wrote to Local Planning Authorities, County Councils, the Environment Agency, the Planning Inspectorate, Natural Resources Wales and DLUHC essentially stating that in certain river catchments if the LPA cannot be certain that development will not cause an adverse impact to protected environmental sites (Habitats Sites) due to increases in nitrate and/or phosphate, that development should not be permitted. The consequence of the Natural England letter is that LPA’s have essentially put an embargo on new developments until a solution to the problems can be found.

This situation isn’t new. Developers and LPA’s in catchments draining to the Solent have been battling with it for 3 or 4 years, as well as catchments in Kent, Leicestershire and Herefordshire. It would be nice to think that based on the experience gained over this time that the solutions would have been found and would be easy to implement.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. What the experience tells us is that the solutions can be slow, expensive and over burdensome. There isn’t an out of the box solution that is cheap, quick and easy.

What there is however is an approach which is efficient, robust and objective. The starting point is to put the development proposals, planning stage and timing into the context of the Natural England position and to undertake a high level Nutrient Assessment. This is the basis of an optioneering exercise to examine appropriate, practical and pragmatic solutions and to start a stakeholder engagement exercise to guide the regulators toward a common goal.

Solutions may range from ‘there isn’t a problem’, which was the result of a recent assessment undertaken by Envireau Water in the Herefordshire Wye catchment; to ‘we need to develop a catchment wide strategic partnership approach’ such as the River Mease SAC Developer Contributions Scheme, which was developed in 2012 and renewed in 2016, as part of a water quality management plan. On site treatment, infiltration and offsetting all come into the mix.

Starting off on the right foot, on the right path with the right support, gives you the very best chance of getting to where you want to go, as efficiently and cost effectively as possible. Our specialists are here to give you the right support from the initial assessment to the implementation of the solution.

Contact JamesDodds@envireawater.co.uk or call him directly on 01332 871 871 for more details.

About Envireau Water

At Envireau Water, we are a team of expert water scientists and engineers, who provide guidance on the management and regulation of natural water systems across the UK. By working collaboratively with our clients and the regulators, we deliver robust sustainable solutions that meet the requirements of all stakeholders. With an incredibly loyal client base and our ability to work seamlessly throughout the four nations of the UK, many of our clients know us individually and trust us to find resolutions to their water problems for years to come.

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Envireau Water is an RSK Group Company.