Nutrient neutrality

Nutrient neutrality is a legal requirement under the Habitats Regulations that prevents developers from enriching watercourses with nitrogen and phosphates in nutrient-sensitive catchment areas. We work with landowners in these affected areas to maximise their natural capital assets by offering guidance and project management support to create new offsetting schemes.

Nutrient neutrality services

Strategic advice and assessment

We provide advice to farmers and landowners on the potential to generate and sell nutrient credits from their land, ensuring they are comfortable with the long-term commitment they represent. We can conduct feasibility assessments to determine the current nutrient baseline of your watercourses and develop a business strategy to identify which habitat creation, restoration, or enhancement is right for your land.

Environmental project management

Our teams offer specialised support in environmental project management for nutrient neutrality, including the creation of wetlands, woodlands, and buffer strips.

We can manage the entire process, including preparing documentation for Local Planning Authorities to ensure compliance with conservation regulations; overseeing long-term maintenance and compliance monitoring; and negotiating and facilitating agreements for farmers to cease agricultural use of land in favour of planting trees.

Nutrient neutrality credit brokerage

To gain planning permission in affected areas, developers must provide evidence that their proposals will not increase nutrient pollution to nearby waterways. Where they cannot achieve this on-site, developers seek off-site mitigation by purchasing nutrient credits from landowners with offsetting schemes within their catchment area. Our natural capital team markets and sells nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient mitigation credits on behalf of our landowner clients to developers and businesses looking to offset their nutrient pollution.

Where there are distinct, additional ecosystem services on the same land, we can also advise on the potential for stacking natural capital benefits to help landowners make the most of their assets.

For landowners in it for the long haul

Under most nutrient neutrality agreements, mitigation must be maintained and monitored for the lifetime of the development, typically 80-125 years. Before entering into any long-term commitment, it’s important to seek advice from a consultant you can trust. We work with you to understand your land, your long-term goals, and the impact of any potential agreements. To talk through the natural capital potential of your land, get in touch today.