The River Wye and Lugg catchment areas are impacted by Nutrient Neutrality due to an excess of phosphorus levels in the designated site of these rivers. The region includes the following Local Planning Authorities (LPAs):
Herefordshire LPA
Brecon Beacons National Park LPA
Monmouthshire LPA
Malvern Hills LPA
Powys LPA
The affected areas in the Wye and Lugg catchment include the towns of Hereford, Monmouth, and Brecon. A comprehensive map of the area can be found below, along with maps of all the areas in England and Wales affected by Nutrient Neutrality.
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We would characterise the mitigation market in the catchment as very weak due to limited supply of 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 £8,000 per house.
The area has a variety of levels of nutrient stripping technology at the wastewater treatment works for phosphorus. New houses currently require between 0.1 kg to 0.89 kg of phosphorus mitigation per house. 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). We forecast demand outstripping supply for at least the next 2 years, despite new schemes coming online (see below).
There are roughly 47 wastewater treatment plants in the River Wye and Lugg Nutrient Neutrality area. Five of these plants have phosphorus removal technology, and none of the plants are scheduled for an upgrade during the current upgrade cycle (AMP7), which runs until 2025.Under the possible upgrade requirements that could be introduced by the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, known as the ‘TAL upgrades,’ five treatment plants will be upgraded to include phosphorus removal technologies by 2030.
This means 42 treatment plants will not meet the most stringent phosphorus removal requirements. Developments that connect to these 32 treatment plants will need additional mitigation compared to those connecting to the five plants getting TAL upgrades.
As per our research into water treatment upgrades, we do not believe that it is likely that the water companies will be able to deliver all the upgrades in this cycle. Planned Noteworthy Nutrient Mitigation Schemes in the River Wye and Lugg CatchmentThere are no planned schemes at national level and progress has been slow to bring schemes forward.
Buy high integrity BNG Units from our network of schemes
Our response to the working paper
Understand Eligibility Criteria and Legal Requirements.
