Nitrates

Nitrogen neutral housing development

Natural England (NE) have raised the issue of a likely significant effect on several internationally designated sites. These sites are:

• Special Protection Areas (SPA)
• Special Areas of Conservation (SAC)
• Ramsar sites

The issue is due to the increase in wastewater from the new developments coming forward. The Solent has recognised problems from nitrate enrichment. High levels of nitrogen from human activity and agricultural sources in the catchment have caused excessive growth of green algae. This is having a detrimental impact upon protected habitats and bird species.

We have published a Position Statement (PDF, 549KB)

This statement sets out our approach to:

• new housing development being proposed on the island in the catchment area
• island land being used for ‘nitrate credits’ to offset mainland development

The nitrate neutrality catchment area on the Isle of Wight can be seen on the map below. Land within the shaded zone is in the catchment area and any land outside does not need to demonstrate nitrate neutrality.