The Government has said that once legislation is in place for forthcoming measures in the Levelling up and Regeneration Bill for the upgrade of wastewater treatment works in catchments of Habitats Sites affected by nutrient pollution and development, “decision-makers can be confident the upgrades will be in place by 2030.”

The comments come in a new consultation launched by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) calling for evidence and expressions of interest in order to build an evidence base on local planning authority led nutrient mitigation schemes to support the funding of nutrient mitigation projects.

The call for evidence (for England only) is inviting all local planning authorities (LPA) affected by nutrient neutrality advice:

• to provide evidence as to the impact of nutrient neutrality
• to provide information and views about the scale of the impact, forthcoming solutions, and on-going work at a catchment level
• to submit costed expressions of interest for projects or strategies for delivering nutrient mitigation to unlock housing delivery in catchments of Habitats Sites affected by nutrient pollution

DLUHC - "we are also interested in hearing from others who have evidenced proposals which could reduce nutrient pollution and unlock housing"

The Department said it is also interested in hearing from others who have evidenced proposals which could reduce nutrient pollution and unlock housing.

The document is aimed at building an evidence base on local planning authority-led nutrient mitigation schemes, with a view to enabling and accelerating the delivery of projects providing nutrient mitigation to support sustainable development.

In the Spring Budget 2023, the Government committed to provide direct grant funding to local planning authorities to deliver high quality, locally-led nutrient mitigation schemes.

The Department is expecting that a response will be submitted by a local planning authority on behalf of all affected local planning authorities in catchments or, if appropriate, by individual local planning authorities.

"Nutrient pollution is an urgent problem for freshwater habitats and rivers"

Photo: River Derwent

The consultation document says that nutrient pollution is an urgent problem for freshwater habitats and rivers, many of which are internationally important for wildlife, commenting:

“While the Government recognises the need to protect these habitats, and is taking steps to address the underlying pollution, it is important to acknowledge the significant burden nutrient neutrality has placed on housebuilders despite the limited impact extra wastewater from residents in new developments has on waterbodies.”

According to DLUHC, as of March 2022, 74 local planning authorities have received advice from Natural England across 27 catchments (equating to 14% of England’s land area) which has effectively stalled housing development in these areas given the lack of available mitigation schemes. This has created a major barrier to the government’s ambition of delivering 300,000 homes per year by the mid-2020s.

The call for evidence and expression of interest seeks to help unlock stalled housing by deepening understanding of the issues facing local planning authorities and supporting the creation of locally-led nutrient mitigation schemes to allow development to move forward whilst ensuring these habitats are protected.

Where high quality proposals are identified, the Government will provide funding to support clearer routes for housing developers to deliver ‘nutrient neutral’ sites in line with their environmental obligations. Funding as part of this scheme will be in the form of a grant, paid directly from DLUHC to the local planning authorities or a lead local planning authority for catchment-level working.

DLUHC said the funding complements existing action being taken by the Government, including:

• Speeding up the process for developers to acquire mitigation through a national £30 million Nutrient Mitigation Scheme led by Natural England.
• Introducing a suite of measures through the Plan for Water which will tackle water pollution and enhance and restore our waterways.
• Significantly reducing pollution at source by requiring water companies to upgrade wastewater treatment works through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill which will also lower the cost of mitigation.
• Restoring protected sites and tackling pollution at source with clear legally binding targets on water quality and protected site strategies.

DHLUC has specified that responses to the call for evidence and expression of interest should have regard to the forthcoming measures in Part 7 and Schedule 12 of the Levelling up and Regeneration Bill, which relate to the upgrade of wastewater treatment works in catchments of Habitats Sites affected by nutrient pollution and the manner in which these improvements must be considered in Habitats Regulations Assessments.

The consultation guidance states:

“Once the legislation is in place, decision-makers can be confident the upgrades will be in place by 2030, enabling them to treat as certain the lower levels of pollution after 2030 as part of a Habitats Regulation Assessment. This reduces the mitigation requirements for the in-perpetuity period, as the current (higher) levels of pollution need only be mitigated until 2030 (or earlier if the upgrades take place sooner), with the lower pollution level needing to be mitigated thereafter. This enables the use of interim mitigation measures alongside longer term in-perpetuity mitigation measures.”

DLUHC - "We are open to receiving proposals for both grey and blue/green infrastructure ie nature-based solutions"

DHLUC says it welcome strategies and projects which can ensure the sufficient supply of both interim and in-perpetuity mitigation within catchments to unlock housing as quickly as possible.

“We are open to receiving proposals for both grey and blue/green infrastructure (ie nature-based solutions as well as efforts to fix legacy infrastructure issues like septic tank upgrades). We encourage proposals for innovative and technical solutions for reducing nutrient pollution and so generating mitigation”, the consultation paper says..

According to the Department, due to the scale of stalled housing delivery, it is unlikely that a single mitigation measure alone will provide a long-term, sustainable supply of mitigation. The paper points out that for most catchments of Habitats Sites, the area covered expands beyond the boundaries of a single local planning authority, saying “it is therefore important that strategic mitigation solutions are delivered, and catchment-based approaches are prioritised.”

DHLUC is seeking detailed answers from local planning authorities to questions on a wide range of issues, including:

• Have you made an assessment of the supply of mitigation forthcoming and how this relates to the anticipated housing growth in the catchment?
• What, if any, policies would you seek to implement to ensure the viability of affordable housing and brownfield regeneration in affected areas?
• Do you have sufficient evidence and understanding of the nutrient pollution sources and source apportionment in the catchment?
• Is there a catchment level strategy or plan proposed for delivering strategic mitigation? Is this strategy or plan seeking to identify the actions needed and to deliver the restoration of the Habitats Site?
• What has been the impact of nutrient neutrality advice on housing supply and the planning system?
• How many dwellings have successfully been consented with nutrient mitigation?
• How many dwellings are held up in consents where nutrient mitigation is the only remaining obstacle?
• How has the delivery of affordable housing been affected?
• How have developer contributions and viability been affected?
• How has the issue affected or impacted on plan-making in your authority area?
• How many dwellings are estimated to be ready to submit planning applications but have not been able to submit until nutrient mitigation is secured?
• Are there actions government could pursue at a national level to address the issue of nutrient pollution to unlock housing on top of existing land-based mitigations?

The Department said the intention of this first expression of interest is to focus on well-developed schemes that could be delivered or expanded within 6 months.

Following the close of the call for evidence and expression of interest, the government will consider the responses and will contact relevant local planning authorities in relation to funding.

DLUHC intends to undertake further calls for evidence and expressions of interest for the Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund in autumn 2023 and spring 2024.

Deadline to submit responses to the consultation is 11:45pm on 24 May 2023 – click here to access the consultation online