The Planner June 2022 – Policy Points Avoiding or mitigating nutrients loads .
On 16 March 2022 Natural England issued advice to 42 councils on nutrient neutrality extending from Bodmin in the west, to Somerset, Dorset, Hampshire and as far north as Holy Island in Northumberland.
In some areas there is an embargo on issuing new planning permissions until the mitigation can be provided…
five year land supply figures will be impacted significantly.
Andrew Burgess , Principal of Andrew Burgess Planning .
Nitrate Neutrality
What is it?
Development in the Solent needs to show it is nitrate neutral. The Solent is protected under the Water Environment Regulations and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations.
Excessive nutrients, nitrogen and phosphate, into the Solent causes eutrophication leading to an increase in Algae growth. This has serious impacts for marine life and birds within protected habitats.
Following a 2018 Court of Justice of the European Union judgment (Dutch Nitrogen), in 2019 Natural England issued an advice note stating that planning permission should not be issued in the Solent Special Protection Area unless a development can demonstrate by Appropriate Assessment under the Habitat Regulations that it was Nitrate Neutral.
During 2020 and 2021 further advice was provided by Natural England which included a Nitrate Calculator to assess the impact that needed to be mitigated.
Various mitigation solutions were developed by taking land out of agricultural use permanently, buying credits from Local Authorities to improve their building stock and replacing package treatment plants with more efficient plant.
Natural England provide Advice Out of the Blue.
On 16 March 2022 Natural England issued advice to 42 Councils on nutrient neutrality extending from Bodmin in the west, to Somerset, Dorset, Hampshire and as far north as Holy Island in Northumberland.
The Issues for Housing Delivery
The Natural England advice was a Bombshell with no mitigation in place and now Local Authorities are having to co-ordinate a solution by river catchment. In some areas there is an embargo on issuing new planning permissions until the mitigation can be provided. The approach is catastrophic to housing delivery, and it seems that the Department for Levelling Up, Communities and Housing are shifting the burden to local authorities. Five-year housing land supply figures will be impacted significantly.
The problems include;
- Local Authority Access to ecological advice
- Uncertainty, cost, and time delays progressing mitigation through legal agreements
- Disproportionate impact on Small Housebuilders
- Large Engineering Practices using all their resources just for National Housebuilders
- Planning Applications and Appeals on hold
This short-term approach has an unfair impact on housebuilders and places a massive responsibility on Councils to resolve matters by river catchment.
There needs to be a longer-term strategic solution including,
- Improvements to Wastewater Treatment Plants and Investment by Water Companies to remove the nutrients before discharging to the sea and water courses.
- A change in Farming Practices and the use of Ammonium Nitrate Fertiliser
The Nitrate Nightmare is a classic case for the need for Joined Up Government but that is not my impression as a planning consultant dealing with matters on the ground, it is chaos.
Andrew Burgess
Andrew Burgess Planning
1 June 2022
