Councils adopt mitigation measures to overcome problems with nitrate pollution and development

Two councils affected by planning problems from nitrate pollution in the Solent are adopting mitigation measures to allow development to continue.

The issue for local authorities in southern Hampshire arose in June when they found they faced potential planning appeal costs and disruption to local plans because of a European Court of Justice ruling.

Natural England said that a ruling in the Netherlands on interpretation of the Habitats Directive meant it had to take a more cautious approach than before when advising on assessments under the directive for residential development as it was difficult to permit additional nitrates into an already failing system.

Some nitrates arise from agriculture but others come from residential waste and this can affect whether councils can grant planning permission for homes in affected areas.

Fareham Borough Council has now adopted an approach for ensuring any new housing is ‘nitrogen neutral’ and does not harm the Solent. 

It said this would allow it to give permission for some new homes in the short term pending a longer-term solution being devised.

Fareham will develop a series of measures designed to reduce nitrates sufficiently to offset the scale of development, both for current planning applications and the emerging local plan. 

In the meantime, it will issue permissions with conditions that any new homes built cannot be occupied until appropriate mitigation has been agreed. 

Leader Seán Woodward said: ‘Whilst our number one priority is of course to protect The Solent, the nitrates issue continues to be a real challenge. 

“One side of Government is telling us that any new housing will be damaging to the environment whilst another is demanding delivery of thousands of new homes.”

Portsmouth City Council has taken a similar approach with a short term interim plan to keep building while protecting the Solent.

A cabinet report warmed that if the council had to cease issuing residential planning permissions it would both hamper the delivery of new homes and “could have a catastrophic effect on the local building sector”.

Measures to be adopted include that in some cases the previous use of the site and of other sites under the same applicants’ control may be “taken into account and enable the development to proceed due to no net detrimental impact”.

The council also intends to seek ‘nitrate credits’ to be used against new development.

These could come from vacant council owned units from which water savings could be ‘banked’. Credits could also arise from greater water efficiency in Portsmouth’s retained housing stock.

Mark Smulian