Cornwall Council has a team working on a long-term strategy to mitigate the impact of extra development in the River Camel area. This is the home page of the River Camel phosphates mitigation project. It has links to more information about the issue and our strategy.
Phosphate pollution and development in the River Camel Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
In 2021, Natural England wrote to us about phosphate pollution in the River Camel. This pollution is affecting the River Camel Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Natural England feels the natural habitat of the river is in an 'unfavourable' state. Wastewater from new developments can make things worse.
The Habitat Regulations 2017 protect this Special Area of Conservation. The Local Planning Authority is the competent authority under these Regulations. To ensure that new development does not lead to more pollution, we can only approve those that are 'nutrient neutral'.
The right mitigation measures can help prevent nutrient pollution. These measures can be on the site of a development or elsewhere in the river catchment area. Not all developers can offer on-site measures or negotiate off-site ones without help. We are working with consultants and partners to find the right mix of measures. This will help developers with the mitigation they need to unlock paused developments. It will also help us progress with our key home-building plans.
Mitigation Strategy
Our programme is evolving in light of:
- legislation, policy and evidence
- South West Water's timetable for upgrading its wastewater treatment works
- consultations with Natural England, the Environment Agency, and South West Water
- the experience of other local planning authorities with similar challenges
- insight from Westcountry Rivers Trust, National Farmers Union, developers, agents, consultants and landowners
The mitigation strategy includes:
- constructing wetlands
- upgrading household and campsite septic tanks/package treatment plants
- nature-based measures
This will create a phosphate credit scheme. Planning applicants can buy credits to mitigate the phosphate pollution that development causes. This will unblock applications so they can progress.
Our phosphate calculator identifies the impact of planning applications on phosphate pollution. It outlines the level of mitigation needed for a period of 80 years. You can find the calculator on our Nutrient Neutrality and planning applications page.
Legislation requires water companies to upgrade their wastewater treatment works by 2030. This means there will be a need for temporary credits until then. Permanent credits will need to be available for areas not improved by South West Water. They will also need to be available after 2030. South West Water may complete its work sooner. Until it finishes, our phosphate calculator remains fixed for developers until 2030.
We are developing the scheme to enable credits to be sold. This involves:
- legally securing the mitigation measures
- Natural England agreeing the solutions
- a process for managing the credits.
Natural England requires developers to buy credits upstream of wastewater treatment works. We can distribute permanent credits on a temporary or permanent basis. We can reallocate any that are no longer needed after 2030.
If all the plans progress to scope and on schedule, credits could be available from late autumn 2025. Not all processes are within our control. The timetable will depend on:
- buying and changing the use of land
- planning application processes
- expediting projects where we can.
The programme should enable development in our current local plan targets. We will prioritise affordable housing, small developer and community business led schemes. We will issue credits by the age of an application, in validation date order.
If we meet current hopes, there will be enough mitigation for substantial development. But the revised National Planning Policy Framework will affect future housing and mitigation. We will provide updates as we learn more.
You can find the links to all our nutrient neutrality information on the Nutrient Neutrality in Cornwall page.
You can find our phosphate calculator on our Nutrient Neutrality and planning applications page.
We continue to work with phosphate mitigation consultants on developing our strategy. Read more about the issue in their River Camel Phosphate Strategy Literature Review. We have also published our River Camel Phosphate Mitigation Solutions Report.
You can find more detail on our strategy and credit scheme on the River Camel phosphates mitigation strategy and policy page.
Latest news
Latest news and updates on the Nutrient Neutrality in Cornwall webpages include:
- Project update for stakeholders added
Latest update: 13.3.25.
If you have any questions for the project team, please email positiveplanning@cornwall.gov.uk in the first instance.