Letter from Minister for Housing, Planning and Building Safety on nutrient neutrality, December 2023
Published 20 December 2023
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2023
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To: Council leaders of local planning authorities affected by nutrient neutrality
From: Lee Rowley MP, Minister of State for Housing, Planning and Building Safety
19 December 2023
Nutrient Neutrality and Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund update
Dear Council Leader
On 13 September 2023, the House of Lords voted against government proposals intended to unlock 100,000 homes between now and 2030, whilst protecting and improving the environment.
The government has carefully considered the case for reintroducing these measures through new primary legislation in the fourth session of this Parliament. While primary legislation will not be brought forward in this Parliament, the government remains committed to making rapid progress to unlock homes. We have published an update on GOV.UK setting out the range of measures that are being taken by the government.
I want to draw particular attention to the measures in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 to reduce the mitigation burden on development and funding announced today through the Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund to significantly boost the supply of mitigation measures coming forward.
To stop pollution at source, the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 creates a new duty on water companies to upgrade wastewater treatment works (WwTW) by 1 April 2030, in catchments of Habitats Sites identified by the Secretary of State as being in an unfavourable condition due to nutrient pollution. This duty will be in effect from 26 January 2024 and the government will publish designated catchments and specific wastewater treatment works to be upgraded. The Act also requires planning decision-makers to consider these upgrades as certain for the purposes of an assessment under the Habitats Regulations. These upgrades will significantly reduce nutrient loads from WwTW in designated catchments, while also reducing the average costs of nutrient mitigation for developers. For new development connecting to WwTW subject to the upgrade duty, the reduction in costs is estimated to range between 37% to 95% for phosphorus and between 46% to 64% for nitrogen (depending on the catchment and subject to final analysis). This is alongside the continued delivery of the Natural England £30 million Nutrient Mitigation Scheme in line with the Environment Secretary’s direction of 28 July 2022.
To boost the supply of mitigation, the Chancellor has announced as part of the Autumn Statement that the Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund will spend £110 million of taxpayer money over this year and next. This will enable local authorities to boost the supply of mitigation, by bringing forward innovative mitigation schemes and providing mitigation credits. The funding will be recycled locally until nutrient mitigation is no longer needed, at which point it will be used for measures to help restore the relevant Habitats Sites. This will enable sustainable development, unlocking stalled housing delivery, whilst delivering secondary benefits like enhanced public access to nature and supporting our commitment to leave our environment in a better state than we found it.
Today, as part of the Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund (LNMF), I am pleased to announce that the department is:
- Making available the first tranche of up-to £57 million capital funding to eight successful bidders (Annex A),
- Providing a second round of Nutrient Support Funding with another £100k for 2023/24 the lead local authority for substantive catchments (those over 10,000 hectares in size, Annex B), and;
- Committing to opening the second round of the Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund in early 2024.
Departmental officials are writing to the lead local planning authorities (LPAs) on behalf of nutrient neutrality catchments who submitted bids for the first round of the LNMF informing them of the decisions. To support the capital funding, the department will also explore proportionate resource funding to support the delivery of the capital programmes, this will be additional to the Nutrient Support Funding. Additionally, officials will be writing to the relevant LPAs who previously received Nutrient Support Funding on providing another £100,000 of revenue funding for 2023/24 in the coming days.
As ever, the department will work closely with affected local authorities to ensure we continue to make progress to unblock development that is stalled as a result of nutrient neutrality. We will also consider further measures as necessary. Finally, I would like to thank you for all the work and the leadership that LPAs are showing on this challenging issue at a local level.
The House of Lords were absolutely wrong to make this decision, but we will continue to take all efforts ensure we unlock development, to allow people to have access to the homes that they need.
Yours ever,
[signed] Lee Rowley MP
Minister of State for Housing, Planning and Building Safety
Annex A: Table of successful Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund
| Nutrient catchment | Lead local authority | Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund round one maximum |
|---|---|---|
| River Camel | Cornwall County Council | £2 m |
| Poole Harbour | Dorset Council | £4.63m |
| Solent and River Itchen | Fareham Council | £9.6 m |
| River Lugg (sub-catchment of the River Wye) | Herefordshire County Council | £1.76 m |
| Stodmarsh | Kent County Council | £9.8 m |
| Norfolk Broads | Broadland District Council | £9.6 m |
| Somerset levels | Somerset County Council | £9.6 m |
| River Avon | Wiltshire Council | £9.8 m |
Annex B: Table showing Nutrient Support Fund round 2 eligible catchments
| Nutrient catchment | Nutrient catchment area (thousand hectares) | Nutrient Support Fund |
|---|---|---|
| Solent | 329 | £100,000 |
| River Eden | 230 | £100,000 |
| Somerset Levels & Moors | 209 | £100,000 |
| Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast | 196 | £100,000 |
| The Broads | 195 | £100,000 |
| River Avon | 172 | £100,000 |
| Poole Harbour | 82 | £100,000 |
| River Lugg | 82 | £100,000 |
| River Wensum | 57 | £100,000 |
| River Derwent & Bassenthwaite Lake | 43 | £100,000 |
| River Itchen | 42 | £100,000 |
| Stodmarsh | 42 | £100,000 |
| River Axe | 30 | £100,000 |
| River Camel | 29 | £100,000 |
| River Clun | 27 | £100,000 |
| River Lambourn | 26 | £100,000 |
| Lindisfarne | 25 | £100,000 |
| River Kent | 22 | £100,000 |
| River Mease | 18 | £100,000 |
| Peak District Dales | 13 | £100,000 |