Nutrient Neutrality in Norfolk

 The Nutrient Neutrality zone in Norfolk covers the River Wensum and Norfolk Broads catchments. This region includes the following Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) 

• North Norfolk LPA
• Norwich LPA
• South Norfolk LPA
• Breckland LPA
• Broadland LPA
• King's Lynn and West Norfolk LPA

The affected areas in Norfolk cover a number of towns and the city of Norwich. Other notable settlements impacted by Nutrient Neutrality include Dereham, Fakeham, Aylsham, North Walsham, Wymondham and Hoveton

A detailed map of the area is shown below, and we also have mapped all the areas in England and Wales impacted by Nutrient Neutrality.

The River Wensum is impacted by phosphorus, while the Norfolk Broads catchment is impacted by both nitrogen and phosphorus.

The area starts to the north of Great Yarmouth, cutting inland near Paston and snaking through North Norfolk to Stanhoe before cutting southeast to New Buckenham. The boundary then goes east and northeast near Hassingham and South Walsham. 

 We would characterise the mitigation market in the catchment as weak due to limited supply of both nitrogen and phosphorus credits. Mitigation is being priced on a per house basis, with the cost of nutrient credits generally being quite high. Typically these are in the region of £5,000 to £10,000 per house. 

The area has a variety of levels of nutrient stripping technology at the wastewater treatment works for phosphorus, but no wastewater treatment works have nitrogen stripping technology. New houses currently require between 0.1 kg to 0.89 kg of phosphorus mitigation per house and 2.7 kg of nitrogen. This creates significant opportunities for landowners looking at mitigation schemes.  

We forecast demand outstripping supply for at least the next 2 years, despite new schemes coming online (see below).