Natural England has launched a consultation on a new draft Environmental Delivery Plan (EDP), designed to address nutrient pollution and support nature recovery in Norfolk.

The organisation is seeking views on the new EDP which is designed to support nature recovery in Norfolk for the Broads Special Area of Conservation (SAC) (Yare and Bure), Broadland Ramsar and River Wensum SAC).

The EDP says that together, the habitats of the Norfolk Broads and the River Wensum and their identified environmental features provide vital ecosystem services, including water purification, carbon storage, flood regulation and climate resilience. However, these are affected by excess nutrient pollution, primarily from wastewater treatment works and diffuse agricultural sources, which are contributing to ecological decline.

The Plan also points out that Norfolk needs new homes, and new residential development increases wastewater flows and surface water runoff, leading to additional nutrient pollution to the protected sites. As a result, without appropriate action, the additional nutrient loads will cause greater harm to habitats and species that are already under pressure.

The Government said the plans to unlock up to 15,780 new homes in Norfolk would be the first test of a new government approach to winning public consent for housebuilding, describing it as “part of a win-win approach to housebuilding and nature restoration.”

The EDP identifies protected environmental features which are likely to be negatively affected by the development covered by this Environmental Delivery Plan and form part of the Broads Special Area of Conservation (the Yare and Bure catchments), Broadland Ramsar and River Wensum Special Area of Conservation.

The Plan:

• assesses the nutrient impacts expected from 15,780 new homes and the effects these additional nutrients could have on the conservation status of the identified environmental features of the protected sites.
• identifies a programme of strategic conservation measures designed to address these impacts and support the long-term recovery of the identified protected habitats and species of the protected sites

The measures have been selected in alignment with Norfolk’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy and will be secured and, where required, maintained for at least 100 years.

Natural England will use funding from the Nature Restoration Fund to secure and deliver these measures, working collaboratively with partners wherever appropriate.

The draft EDP focusses on nutrient pollution and provides developers with an alternative option to pay a Nature Restoration Levy to be received by Natural England and used to address the harm caused to environmental features of protected sites, which will materially outweigh the negative effect of development impact.

A developer may commit to pay the Nature Restoration Levy and the levy will be secured through the planning process and paid into the Nature Restoration Fund. The levy rate is £2,675 per house or flat, plus indexation.

Developers can choose to use the Environmental Delivery Plan on a voluntary basis. Where a development is committed to paying the levy, this will discharge their relevant environmental obligations in respect of the environmental impact of such development. For the purposes of this Environmental Delivery Plan, that is nutrient pollution, specifically the wastewater and surface water runoff from new homes (including flats) on either/both the Broads Special Area of Conservation, the Broadland Ramsar and/or River Wensum Special Area of Conservation, under the Habitats Regulations 2017.

The maximum amount of development covered by this Environmental Delivery Plan is 15,780 units.

Natural England will use the levy payments to:

• deliver the conservation measures identified in the Environmental Delivery Plan;
• monitor and maintain those conservation measures;
• recover administrative costs associated with this Environmental Delivery Plan and reasonably attributable costs in respect of the Nature Restoration Fund.

Development that opts to use this Environmental Delivery Plan and is managing foul water drainage by non-mains drainage, will be subject to a planning condition. The planning condition is a conservation measure and secures the performance of the package treatment plant.

In March 2022, Natural England provided advice to local planning authorities for development proposals that have the potential to affect water quality and how this could be addressed through mitigation. The guidance suggested a means of developers overcoming the problem by making their housing developments ‘nutrient neutral’ to ensure nutrient pollution from their development site would be the same or less than it was pre-development.

This could be achieved through on-site technology and design choices as well as reducing nutrient pollution elsewhere in the same catchment, so that overall inputs to the protected site do not rise.

The planning requirement for nutrient neutrality is that it be effective before a new housing development is occupied. In this way, nutrient neutrality is seen to mitigate the effects of new development, meaning that harm from pollution is averted before it can be caused.

Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Act makes provision for the Nature Restoration Fund, a new strategic approach to address specific environmental impacts arising from developments. In most instances, Environmental Delivery Plans will be voluntary but there may be some scenarios in which they are mandatory.

The Planning and Infrastructure Act introduced a new and more ambitious test - the Overall Improvement Test - than that applied under the Habitats Regulations. This requires going beyond demonstrating there is no adverse effect on site integrity, and instead demonstrating a positive impact that materially outweighs the negative impact of nutrient pollution from development on the conservation status of the environmental features specified in the EDP.

The consultation opened yesterday and closes at 9.29am on Tuesday 27 October 2026.

Click here to download the draft Environmental Delivery Plan

Click here to access the online consultation

Responses via the Smart Survey online platform are preferred for ease of analysis but alternative options are also provided.