Nutrient pollution is a serious environmental issue which poses challenges to construction, according to experts speaking at a recent CIOB event.
In January CIOB members attended a Norwich Hub webinar explaining nutrient neutrality and how it is affecting planning applications and the construction industry.
Natural England states that nutrient pollution is a big environmental issue in many places. Increased levels of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus can affect the delicate ecosystem. Extra wastewater from new housing developments can further impact this problem.
The webinar speakers discussed the effect of this on planning applications and developments, how councils are applying legislation and how mitigations to ensure nutrient neutrality can be put in place.
Phil Courtier, director of place serving two district councils in Norfolk, provided an introduction and overview of the issue and its impact on the Norfolk catchment. He then described the work of the Norfolk local authorities, alongside other organisations such as Anglian Water, to try to reduce the burden on the development sector and plans for a programme of mitigation and environmental credits.
Ray Winney MCIOB, construction director of Orbit Homes East, explained the challenges to developers. Finally, William Mackveley, general manager at ST Connect, discussed mitigation using onsite community-scale water recycling centres – describing the delivery process and identifying who could benefit and how.
Access this webinar at the CIOB Academy at www.ciobacademy.org.
