We are a partnership project comprising members from Lake District National Park Authority, Westmorland and Furness Council, and Cumberland Council. We are supported by the Planning Advisory service. We also have advisors to the partnership including Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Environment Agency, Natural England, United Utilities, and the local River Trusts .Our aim is to:
The three local planning authorities in Cumbria have been awarded a capital grant of £15.2m and revenue of £1.2m from the Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund to progress plans to mitigate nutrient neutrality issues in affected catchment areas.
The Cumbrian Partnership are working together to unlock an estimated 13,000 homes that are either currently stalled in the planning process or will face future challenges due to nutrient neutrality requirements and have welcomed the £16.4 million government grant to tackle the issue. Read the full press release here.
We will be publishing an invitation to tender for a contract to carry out septic tank/PTP upgrades.
Further details on the tender process are coming soon with the aim to have the tender period open by the end of February 2025. The ITT will be published by Westmorland and Furness Council.
We are still looking for mitigations sites with potential to take part in the Nutrient Neutrality and/or Biodiversity Net Gain Schemes.
Please read the relevant information on our new page, including information regarding site suitability, the assessment process and how to submit an Expression of Interest. Mitigation Sites : Lake District National Park
Natural England, the organisation tasked with protecting biodiversity and ecosystems in England, is trying to protect freshwater rivers and lakes that are currently in good condition with low levels of nutrients. It is also trying to ensure any rivers and lakes that are currently in a poor condition aren’t made worse through further nutrient pollution.
In 2022 Natural England introduced new guidance in relation to four water catchments in the Lake District (and others across the country), which means new developments must not add any extra nutrients, in particular phosphates, to these catchments.
If a proposed development is going to increase nutrient levels, for example adding new houses to the area, it must have a way of removing the same amount of nutrients from somewhere else in that catchment. This is called nutrient neutrality. The catchment areas that now need Nutrient Neutrality information to be included along with their planning applications are;
Further information on each catchment, including the Natural England Evidence Packs and Catchment Maps can be found on each individual catchment page.
Nutrient Neutrality information is required before a planning application is validated where the proposed development is in one of the catchment areas. See our Nutrient Neutrality FAQs for further detail.
The Lake District National Park Authority, Cumberland Council, Westmorland and Furness Council and advisors to the partnership are working to identify and promote strategic mitigation options and solutions across affected catchments. This will support the delivery of Local Planning Authorities’ spatial strategies and enable the unlocking of existing planning applications and future proposals (particularly in respect of housing and tourism provision) without unacceptable impact upon nature conservation interests.
This work will run alongside Natural England's strategic mitigation project and;
Photo Credits: Photo 1 in slider - Common Hawker C/o Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Photo 3 - Bog Asphodel C/o Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Photo 10 - Derwent Water looking torwards Cat Bells C/o West Cumbria Rivers Trust
Our expressions of Interest forms for the Enhance your tank scheme are now live.
Please read the relevant information on the Enhance your Tank page and check your site is within an affect catchment before completing the form.
Ricardo AEA has produced a Nutrient Mitigation Solutions Report which considers the four catchments listed above. The report, amongst other things, identifies the main sources of nutrient pollution and recommends a number of mitigation solutions to offset stalled and future development. Please note that the information on source apportionment may differ to that held by the Environment Agency as different methodologies have been used.
The Report has been redacted in accordance with the Environmental Information and GDPR Regulations to remove any personal data such as signatures or private addresses. Commercially sensitive information, such as costings, have also been removed. The following Redaction Statement provides further information.
An update to the Mitigation Solutions Report is currently being commissioned. This will assess the impacts of proposed United Utilities improvements at Wastewater Treatment Works which will affect the amount of mitigation that needs to be delivered to offset stalled and future development post 2030. The updated report will have a baseline of 1st April 2024 and will also consider the latest data available from elsewhere.
Robin Miller of Understanding Data has completed a review of the occupancy rate figure used in the Natural England calculator.
The alternative figures recommended by Robin have been assessed and approved by Natural England as evidenced in the letter below.
The new figures in the report can now therefore be used in the Nutrient Calculators.
Letter of support from Natural England
Natural England identify the replacement of inefficient septic tanks and PTPs as a potential means of offsetting the nutrient impacts of new developments. A Guidance Note for developers has been produced which includes further information and is available to download:
Letter from the Chief Planner from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to all planning authorities affected,16 March 2022.
The Catchment Nutrients Officer produces updates on the Nutrient Neutrality project. These are listed below:
Nutrient Neutrality Update February 25
If you would like to sign up for our regular updates you can do so here
Maps produced by Defra Spatial Data Science @Defra 2024, reproduced with the permission of Natural England: http://naturalengland.org.uk/ Copyright Crown Copyright and database rights 2024. Ordnance Survey licence number 100022021.
We encourage landowners considering Nutrient Neutrality solutions to also consider Biodiversity Net Gain solutions.
This is recommended due to the ability of solutions being permitted to be stacked and used alongside each other. Further information can be found on the link below.
