In the South West we have been heavily affected over the past 2 years by the Nutrient Neutrality rules with the Government proposing the extend the rules from the current 32 local planning authorities to a further 42.
The reasoning behind this requirement is that ‘many any of our most internationally important water bodies are designated as protected sites under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, and termed “Habitats Sites” in the National Planning Policy Framework. Under the Habitats Regulations, competent authorities, such as local planning authorities and the Environment Agency, must assess the environmental impact of projects and plans (such as planning applications or local plans) that come forward which affect these sites. This is one of the ways environmental impacts are considered in the planning system (other examples include Environmental Impact Assessment, Strategic Environmental Assessment and Biodiversity Net Gain). Local Planning Authorities can only approve a project if they are certain it will have no negative effect on the site’s condition.
As a result of these regulations and European case law, Natural England has previously advised a total of 32 local planning authorities that where protected sites are in unfavourable condition due to excess nutrients, projects and plans should only go ahead if they will not cause additional pollution to sites. They can demonstrate this through “nutrient neutrality”. This means that new residential development can only happen if the nutrient load created through additional wastewater from the development is mitigated. This typically involves creating new wetlands to strip nutrients from water or creating buffer zones to revert to nature. This has had a significant negative impact on the number of homes granted planning permission in affected areas’.
This is good news for our environment and wildlife, but it does create significant delay and cost to overcome and resolve and needs to be consider before any scheme is prepared.
The Home Builders Federation currently estimate that 60,000 homes have already been delayed and that many thousand more will be stalled as a result of the extension.
