New plans announced by the Government to help safeguard England’s protected sites by driving down nutrient pollution will place a new legal duty on water companies in England to upgrade wastewater treatment works by 2030 in ‘nutrient neutrality’ areas to the highest achievable technological levels.

The requirement is among a raft of measures intended to help safeguard England’s protected sites by driving down nutrient pollution and allowing for the construction of sustainable new homes across the country.

Nutrient pollution is an urgent problem for freshwater habitats and estuaries which provide a home to wetland birds, fish and insects. Increased levels of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus can speed up the growth of certain plants, disrupting natural processes and devastating wildlife. While the government said it has taken substantial steps to tackle the issue, the new measures are intended to fast track progress in hotspot areas while unlocking homebuilding across the country.

In England, 27 water catchments (encompassing 31 internationally important water bodies and protected sites) are in unfavourable status due to nutrient pollution.

Due to excess levels of nutrients in certain English water catchments and what the Government describes as the result of “complex and bureaucratic EU-derived domestic legislation and case law”, Local Planning Authorities can only approve a plan or a project if they are certain it will have no negative effect on legally protected sites for nature.

Natural England, in its statutory role as an adviser on the natural environment, has advised a total of 74 Local Planning Authorities on the nutrient impacts of new plans and projects on protected sites where those protected sites are in unfavourable condition due to excess nutrients.

The Government plans will see:

• A new legal duty on water companies in England to upgrade wastewater treatment works by 2030 in ‘nutrient neutrality’ areas to the highest achievable technological levels.
• A new Nutrient Mitigation Scheme established by Natural England, helping wildlife and boosting access to nature by investing in projects like new and expanded wetlands and woodlands. This will allow local planning authorities to grant planning permission for new developments in areas with nutrient pollution issues, providing for the development of sustainable new homes and ensuring building can go ahead. Defra and DLUHC will provide funding to pump prime the scheme.

The measures will not only tackle the long-term issue of nutrient pollution by significantly reducing pollution from existing homes in sensitive areas. Developers will be able to purchase ‘nutrient credits’ which will discharge the requirements to provide mitigation.

Natural England will accredit mitigation delivered through the Nutrient Mitigation Scheme, enabling Local Planning Authorities to grant planning permission for developments which have secured the necessary nutrient credits. This will ensure developers have a streamlined way to mitigate nutrient pollution, allowing planned building to continue and creating new habitats across the country.

Natural England chair Tony Juniper commented:

“Wetlands and estuaries are home to a wide variety of internationally-important wildlife species, from wading birds to insects and from fish to special plants. Pollution from excess nutrients is causing serious damage to many of these fragile places and if we are to meet our national targets for Nature recovery it is vital that we take concerted, coordinated action to protect them.

“The duty on water companies and the Nutrient Mitigation Scheme mark significant steps forward, and will help join up the various approaches to improving water quality and bring about multiple other benefits. They will provide the tools needed to help planning authorities, developers and water and land managers to both build new homes and support healthy rivers and lakes.”

Government will work with water companies to identify where the upgrades could be accelerated and delivered sooner

The new legal duty on water and sewerage companies in England to upgrade certain wastewater plants will be introduced via a Government amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. The Government wants the improvements to be factored in for the purposes of a Habitats Regulation Assessment.

The upgrades will need to be made in a way that tackles the main nutrient(s) causing pollution at protected wildlife sites, for example the addition of metal salts to wastewater, which can be used in combination with wetlands and reedbeds to improve the performance of treatment works.

Where possible, the Government will work with water companies to identify where the upgrades could be accelerated and delivered sooner. The proposed Environment Act target to tackle wastewater pollution across the country will see upgrades brought in elsewhere in addition to those required by the new duty on companies, on a slightly longer timeframe.

The Nutrient Mitigation Scheme will create new wetlands and woodlands in partnership with green groups and other privately led nutrient mitigation schemes. It follows DLUHC’s initial £100,000 (per catchment) package of support for planning authorities.

This national scheme will support investment in new habitats which will ‘soak up’ or mitigate the impacts of unavoidable nutrient pollution. These new or expanded wildlife habitats will also increase people’s access to nature.

The scheme will be open to all developers, with priority given to smaller builders who are most affected. Developers can also continue to put their own mitigation schemes in place should they choose. Natural England said it will work with, not crowd out, new and existing private providers and markets for nutrient offsets wherever they exist.

The scheme is due to open in the Autumn. All affected areas can continue to access practical support from the government and Natural England in meeting nutrient neutrality requirements. Natural England will deliver the scheme by establishing an ‘Accelerator Unit’, with the support of Defra, DLUHC, the Environment Agency and Homes England.

The Government said the new measures will support the delivery of the tens of thousands of homes currently in the planning system by significantly reducing the cost of mitigation requirements.

EAC Chair welcomes Government’s amendment “to apply further pressure on water companies to clean up their act on sewage pollution”

Reacting to the Government’s plans to address nutrient pollution, including a legal duty on water companies in England to upgrade wastewater treatment works by 2030 in ‘nutrient neutrality’ areas, Environmental Audit Committee Chairman, Rt Hon Philip Dunne MP, said:

“The Government’s forthcoming amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill to apply further pressure on water companies to clean up their act on sewage pollution in sensitive catchments is very welcome. There is no magic wand which can instantly reverse decades of decline in water quality, but step by step action is being taken to make sure water and sewerage companies are held to account and that the chemical cocktail which can course through our rivers is addressed.

“There are several catchments where nutrient levels in waterways need improving before further development takes place. The measures announced today are a sensible and pragmatic twin-track approach to address these problems, reduce discharge of phosphorous into our waterways, including from sewage, while creating nature-based solutions to improve biodiversity through Natural England.

“The build-up of excess nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen is reducing oxygen levels in rivers, and in severe cases, can cause fish kills. Only 45% of English rivers are rated ‘good’ for phosphorus levels. It is therefore absolutely critical that for the health of our rivers, we get a grip on excess nutrients.

“However, as we made clear in our report considering Water quality in rivers, farming also has a part to play in reducing excess nutrients flowing into our rivers from animal waste. We repeat our recommendation that a periodic appraisal is undertaken of catchment-wide nutrient flows across each major river catchment in England to understand better the state of play.”