Natural England Launches Tees Catchment Nutrient Mitigation Scheme
Natural England (NE) has launched the first Nutrient Mitigation Scheme in the Tees catchment, offering nitrate credits to developers at a fixed price of £1,825 per unit.
The scheme is intended to address the issue of nutrient pollution in the Teesmouth SPA by requiring all development which would add to the nutrient loading in the catchment to be “nutrient neutral”. For more background on nutrient neutrality, which applies to 27 catchments in England and Wales affecting 74 local planning authorities, see our blog of 31st March 2022.
Developers needing to offset the nutrient impact of schemes in the Tees catchment will be able to bid for credits from NE’s scheme in four tranches. The first round of bidding will close on 30th April 2023, with the next rounds running from 3rd to 28th July 2023, 2nd to 27th October 2023 and 8th January to 2nd February 2024. A step-by-step guide to the process is set out in guidance published by Defra: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/natural-englands-nutrient-mitigation-scheme-for-developers/how-to-apply-for-nutrient-mitigation-credits-from-natural-england
NE has taken a long term interest in the land being used to deliver this scheme and it has set the price of the credits at £1,825 per unit for the first round, based on the cost of delivering the land use change, ongoing maintenance, monitoring and verification and reflecting the likely impact of inflation over the life of the mitigation scheme. It notes that the cost of credits in future tranches may be different, reflecting the costs of delivery for those schemes.
Other Nutrient Mitigation Schemes are being developed in The Broads and the River Wensum (Norfolk) and Stodmarsh (Kent) catchments.
Meanwhile local authorities, the private sector and conservation bodies continue to develop offsetting schemes in a number of other catchments. Prices of units vary and examples being quoted as at 3/4/23 include
· Nitrate credits:
o Eastleigh Borough Council: £3,000 + VAT per unit
o Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust: between £2,500 and £3,500 per unit, plus legal and administration fees
· Phosphate credits:
o Herefordshire Council: £14,000 per kg P
The Government is also continuing to put pressure on both water companies and the agricultural sector to reduce the sources of nitrate, phosphate and sediment pollution.
3rd April 2023