Obstacle to affordable homes may soon disappear

What has eutrophication got to do with affordable housing, you might well ask. Or for that matter, what is eutrophication anyway? If you haven’t come across the term before, it refers to the process by which a body of water becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus. This speeds up the growth of certain plants and algae, with a detrimental effect on other wildlife. It has become a problem in many parts of the world, in freshwater habitats, estuaries and coastal waters, and was first identified on the south coast of England around ten years ago. Poole Harbour is regarded as especially vulnerable. The connection with housing

By CLAUDIA SORIN West Dorset Labour Party

is this. In 2018, Natural England advised that in a number of areas including the Poole Harbour catchment area, covering a large part of West Dorset, new housing development could only be permitted if it would not increase nitrate and phosphate pollution. In March 2022 the advice was extended and tightened. Plans had to demonstrate that development would cause no overall increase in nutrient pollution in perpetuity; as a result, an estimated 100,000 new homes across the country were put on hold –amongst them the proposal by the Dorchester Area

Community Land Trust to provide 15 flats at social rents for young working people. No one would doubt the need to tackle the worsening degradation of our natural environment and wildlife habitats, but this problem has arisen from the government’s slowness in tackling the combination of outdated (some would say) farming practices and water companies’ failure to invest in waste water treatment. While agriculture accounts for 74% of nitrogen pollution in the Poole Harbour catchment, according to Natural England only improvements in waste water treatment works can deliver the required reduction in phosphorus emissions. The government is finally taking action over this.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will require water companies to meet required standards for phosphorus and nitrogen discharges from specified treatment works, and make them liable for any damage resulting from failure to comply. Once the Bill is enacted, probably in April, Natural England says it will no longer be necessary for new developments in this catchment to demonstrate phosphorus neutrality. While the position for nitrogen pollution remains slightly more complicated, we can hope that the latest obstacle to Dorset Council’s approval of the Community Land Trust’s affordable housing scheme will soon disappear.

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6 Sweetheart (4)

7 Inadormantstate (6)

13 Usedagain (8)

14 Wholenumbers (8)

15 Accusation (6)

17 Freshest (6) 18 Removingwaterfrom (6)

20 Dancer’sdress (4)

22 Rowing-boatessentials (4)

For the solutions turn to page 92