ErgoFergo

Amazing! So no mitigation? Congratulations!

Good luck, @Chanmenie and @Mulberry View. I'll watch with interest. At least if you submit now, you'll be at the head of the queue once they're able to discharge.

Hi all. I was just reading the following article on Nutrient Neutrality https://www.jdpipes.co.uk/knowledge/industry-news/nutrient-neutrality.html. This article suggests that in NN mitigation credit schemes, the credits have to be paid for annually. Is this correct? I understood that it would be a one off payment. This article says an average four bedroom house will cost £10,000 per year to mitigate off-site. That can't be right, can it? That's financially unsustainable!

Really?? In Eastleigh, the cost per credit is £3000 plus VAT. I think there are also admin and legal fees to pay on top of this.

Hi @CharlieKLP. What kind of figures have you heard? I've seen them range from £5k upwards, but am concerned it could be more for self-builders who don't have the economies of scale of large developers. Actually, I'm more concerned that the council won't come up with anything for individual builders any time soon.

It looks like Norfolk councils held an online forum for planning agents yesterday and they've put the slides on their planning website, at the bottom of this page: https://www.southnorfolkandbroadland.gov.uk/downloads/download/816/nutrient-neutrality It outlines short- and long-term plans and predicted timescales. Might be helpful for people in other affected areas too. It still doesn't address how the council plans to handle those with full planning but with drainage conditions.

Looks like it's only approved subject to the council being satisfied it will not lead to excess nutrients entering the waterways. So no full planning approval yet. As it's old farmland, it may not require mitigation anyway.

Yes. The deadline for the consultants is May 2023, with a proviso that it may take till May 2024 at the latest. It's not clear whether either deadline is simply to identify and plan mitigation solutions, or to have them up and running as well.

From the EDP this morning: https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/housing/norwich-east-masterplan-mike-stonard-9001076#article-comments-coral Will the solution be there for self-builders though?

I mean, if your drainage condition only refers to surface water, surely your foul waste drainage already has approval, and therefore a soakaway should be admissible in the circumstances? I'd have thought it's the foul waste that has the biggest discharge of nutrients. 🤷‍♀️

I think they're so scared of being sued they won't touch any drainage conditions with a barge pole. Hopefully once they've had legal advice, they'll take a more sensible approach on cases which already have full planning to at least move some developments through the system. From the PAS advice, some councils have taken a more risk based approach on pre-conditions.

It would be interesting to know how anyone in our situation (full planning but with drainage conditions) handled this situation in any of the councils first affected by this three years ago (Havant, Hereford etc). My fear is we may lose our planning altogether if no solution is found for self-builders. I hope I'm catastrophising!

Hi @Chanmenie. Have you been told you'll definitely have to prove your development is Nutrient Neutral? Or just that the council doesn't know whether to include your development until they've had legal advice? I don't think we can even get to slab level. We can clear the land in preparation but I don't think we can do enough to trigger our planning and protect it from expiring.

Please do post here, @CharlieKLP! We only have 18 months on our planning (reserved matters were approved six months ago so we had two years). Surely that sort of mitigation (wetlands, reed beds, agricultural land taken out of action) will take a long time to implement? I can't imagine the council doing anything quickly! We spoke to an architect who seemed to think we'd be fine with a sustainable drainage system as we already had planning approval.

@Chanmenie, we are in Norwich too. We've been told they're seeking legal advice on how they should treat approved applications with drainage conditions attached. So my understanding was that we *might* be need to show nutrient neutrality, or we may eventually be allowed to go ahead if it's decided that's admissable. Have you been told you definitely will have to mitigate? Annoyingly, the Natural England document specifies that the new requirements cover new applications and those at the reserved matters stage. We've cleared that hurdle so surely they can feasibly allow pre-conditions through?! (Pleeeease) This is the advice given to councils from the Planning Advisory Service: