Recommendation 139

For issues such as recreational impact zones, there are several examples across England which could be adapted to a local area. When new advice is issued for a protected site the delivery of new homes or infrastructure may be delayed while a solution is developed but the impact will likely not be significant in the long term (after recreational impacts on the Chiltern Beechwoods SPA were identified in March 2022, a mitigation strategy was agreed by Central Bedfordshire in March 2023) 179 . In contrast, when a new regulation or requirement is introduced, it can be many years until mitigation is available to the market. Box 6: Nutrient Neutrality Natural England told us the Government decided not to launch a mitigation scheme alongside the publication of its nutrient neutrality advice as it expected private markets would deliver a mitigation scheme. 180 The success of this was limited by a lack of market rules for nature-based solutions and, more recently, by reports of a change in government policy on nutrient neutrality providing a disincentive to invest in schemes. 181 In March 2023, Natural England opened a mitigation scheme in the Tees Valley and will shortly open schemes in six other catchments. 182 In the Solent area the local planning authority is running a mitigation scheme and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has launched a Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund for local planning authorities to develop their own schemes. 183 There are no active mitigation schemes for phosphate pollution. The schemes are managed in different ways. 184 Some of the nutrient mitigation schemes operate on a ‘first come first served’ basis; others prioritise based on factors such as development scale or affordable housing provision.