Natural England Adds 42 New Local Planning Authority Areas to its Nutrient Neutrality Policy

Natural England has recently issued updated guidance re: the emerging issue of Nutrient Neutrality, and it now covers an additional 42 Local Planning Authority areas (bringing the total to 74 LPAs). This update means a detailed assessment is now a mandatory requirement for all relevant developments in the newly designated catchments. The system will provide much needed protection from nutrient pollution for some of the most important habitats in the UK. This change will affect developers who have sites within the newly designated catchments and the guidance focuses on reducing additional nutrient loading, from the additional wastewater that will be generated by the future uses on site.

All of the catchment areas affected are now shown on the map below, and we will prepare some additional detailed guidance soon re: how your development is best able to adapt to these changes, once we have fully digested the impacts on these new locations.

If you have any pressing queries about this change, please get in touch for a chat about how we can help. In the meantime, the original press release can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nutrient-pollution-reducing-the-impact-on-protected-sites/nutrient-pollution-reducing-the-impact-on-protected-sites

#ecology #biodiversity #nutrientneutrality #pollution