need to know
Can we overcome nutrient neutrality issues?
Nutrient moratoriums began appearing in mid 2019. Natural England advised 74 local authorities that pollution targets were being breached and, because of a European Court decision (The Dutch Nitrogen Judgement), their adopted catchment recovery plans could no longer be relied upon as a way of protecting catchments or enabling housing.
Effectively, local authorities were told they couldn't approve housing developments that might contribute further nutrients (phosphate and nitrogen) unless it could be scientifically and legally proven that there was no additional harm. It transpired that this was almost impossible to do, as even tiny amounts of nutrients from a single self build home were deemed pollution. And so nutrient neutrality, and the market for mitigation credit trading, came into being.