Natural England’s Nutrient Neutrality Scheme (River Clun SAC)
Details on Natural England’s Nutrient Neutrality Scheme can be found here (https://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5031421117988864). This aims to address the impact of nutrient pollution—particularly phosphorus and nitrogen—on protected habitat areas like Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) such as the River Clun.
Excess nutrients have caused havoc across water bodies in the UK particularly the River Wye region between England and Wales and Lough Neagh (https://www.niassembly.gov.uk/globalassets/documents/raise/publications/2022-2027/2024/aera/0624.pdf) in Northern Ireland.
This article focuses on the River Clun SAC but also has relevance to other SACs, SSSI’s or NVZs where farmers are concerned about organic material waste management and how to reduce nitrate and/or phosphate runoffs.
Nutrient runoff occurs from both agricultural and urban point and diffuse pollution sources, such as the natural water runoff from agricultural lands (diffuse) and from sewage treatment plants (point), contributing to elevated levels of phosphorus and nitrogen in water bodies which leads to eutrophication and habitat degradation. Agricultural activities and areas in the River Clun SAC are described in the table below.
| River Clun SAC Agricultural Areas | |
| Crop Type | Area (ha) |
| Wheat | 1,366 |
| Barley | 1,396 |
| Oats & rye | 617 |
| Maize | 80 |
| Potatoes | 52 |
| Oilseed rape | 456 |
| Stock feed crops | 129 |
| Land use | Area (ha) |
| Temporary grass (<5 years old) | 1,795 |
| Temporary grass (>5 years old) | 13,461 |
| Rough grazing | 250 |
| Woodland | 557 |
| Livestock type | Area (ha) |
| Cattle | 13,914 |
| Sheep | 159 |
| Pig | 119,282 |
| Fowl | 287,784 |
Land owners can check to see if their property is in an NVZ by going to the Environment Agency’s website and entering the place or post code details, here.
https://environment.data.gov.uk/farmers/
For example, searching for “Leominster, Herefordshire, England” shows that this location is situated in a NVZ and for any planned developments nutrient neutrality must be applied.
The planning guidance issued for the River Clun SAC has the following mitigation targets:
From this document the total annual phosphate mitigation required for this area is 19.2kg P for the period from 2023 to 2038. The cumulative reduction required for the the River Clun SAC area is shown in the graph below.
The scheme’s core goal is to prevent further degradation of water quality in these sensitive ecosystems by ensuring that any new development or agricultural activity doesn’t increase the nutrient load into the waterways. It promotes “neutrality,” meaning that activities that contribute nutrients, like farming or construction, must be offset by reductions elsewhere, resulting in no net increase of nutrients entering the water system.
Intended Impact
The intended impact of the scheme is to preserve and restore water quality, preventing excess nutrients from causing issues like eutrophication, which can lead to harmful algal blooms, oxygen depletion, and damage to aquatic habitats. For farmers, the scheme provides a structured way to continue agricultural activities while ensuring compliance with environmental standards. By removing excess nutrients from their land—such as phosphorus found in broiler manure—farmers could play an active role in nutrient management, potentially leading to environmental benefits from reduced pollution and improved soil health.
The average nutrient content of broiler layer manure provided from MANNER-NPK software (available for download at https://www.planet4farmers.co.uk/) is shown below.
Poultry layer manure analysis
Poultry layer manure per tonne contains 25 kg phosphates (P2O5), for nutrient neutrality purposes the quantity of Phosphorous (P) must be calculated. This is achieved by multiplying the mass of phosphates by 0.4364 as Phosphorous by mass is 43.64% of the total.
The poultry layer manure shown in the manure analysis diagram contains 10.91 kg P/t, sustainably treating 2 tons of this manure and exporting it from the region would remove 21.82 kg P from the River Clun SAC. If this was be supplied to farmers/ horticulturalists in other nutrient deficient regions then UK fertiliser imports could be augmented.
People seem to forget that agricultural land is part of our natural environment and has been since the Neolithic revolution that occurred sometime about 10,000 years ago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neolithic_Revolution).
By working closely with farmers and supporting them with developing more sustainable alternatives to current agricultural practices, the benefits to the natural environment are huge. By developing indigenous fertiliser production capacity, the UK could improve its own food security, maintain its world famous rural heritage and reduce its environmental footprint.
Natural England has proposed 4 types of solution for nutrient mitigation for farmers: Natured Based, Run-Off management, Wastewater management and Demand management, these options are shown in the table below.
Nutrient Mitigation Solutions
| Type of Solution | Solution Details | Delivery Timescale |
| Nature-based | Silt traps | Short-term |
| Riparian buffer strips | Short-term | |
| Wet woodlands | Short-term | |
| Constructed wetlands | Medium-term | |
| Willow buffers | Short-term | |
| Beetle banks | Short-term | |
| Beaver reintroduction | Medium-term | |
| Run-off management | Taking land out of agricultural use | Short-term |
| Cessation of fertiliser and manure application | Short-term | |
| Cover crops | Short-term | |
| Installation of SuDS* in new developments | Short-term | |
| Retro-installation of SuDS in existing developments | Medium-term | |
| Highway drainage improvements | Medium-term | |
| Wastewater management | Expedite planned improvements to treatment works | Short-term |
| Improvements to Clunbury treatment works | Medium-term | |
| Moving Clunbury ST onto mains sewage | Long-term | |
| Bishop’s Castle WwTW transfer scheme | Long-term | |
| Installation of cesspools and capture outputs from private sewage systems | Short-term | |
| Replacement of package treatment plants/ septic tanks | Short-term | |
| Installation of portable treatment works | Short-term | |
| Rectifying misconnections to combined systems | Long-term | |
| Reduce leakage from foul sewer network | Long-term | |
| Incentivise commercial water efficiency and treatment efficiency | Long-term | |
| Demand management | Retrofit water saving measures in existing properties (local authority, registered providers, public buildings) | Short-term |
*SuDS – Sustainable Drainage Systems. These are designed to manage surface water runoff in a similar way to natural processes, helping to slow down, store, and filter the runoff to reduce the risk of flooding and pollution. Incorporating SuDS promote biodiversity and create greener urban spaces by incorporating techniques like permeable surfaces, green roofs, ponds, and wetlands into development areas.
Constructed wetlands and constructed wet woodlands are the most mature nutrient removal technology, in existence since the 1950s and used to trat sewage, storm water agricultural and industrial effluent.
Well-designed constructed wetland or wet woodland systems provide; – increased biodiversity, improved water quality, flood management, carbon off setting, amenity and aesthetic benefits. Examples of such systems for treating waste water can be found globally, constructed wetlands have many terminologies such as reedbeds, treatment wetlands, artificial wetlands etc. A famous example of this is the Canadian Forces Base (CFB) at Goose Bay site which was heavily contaminated from decades of military operations. Remediation work at the site commenced in 2009 as the pollution was contaminating ground water drinking supplies. By 2022 an estimated $142.9 million has been spent on remediation and one of the former dumps is now an engineered wetland, further details can be found here.
https://cmea-agmc.ca/goose-bay-clean-reaches-its-peak-activity
With all this UK policy making there’s an important question that must be answered?
By converting animal manures into more concentrated organic fertilisers which could then be exported out of the catchment region and to another area suffering a nutrient deficiency then imports for phosphates would also be reduced. Annually the UK imports over 140, 000 tonnes of phosphate-based fertilisers, by recycling phosphates from manures would promote the UK circular economy in agriculture and shorten supply chains for fertiliser products. This would help farmers to continue farming in NVZs, Natural England provides some additional advice.
Activities Farmers Should Stop or Mitigate:
Farmers in nutrient-sensitive areas should consider reducing or halting the following activities until they can implement measures to achieve nutrient neutrality:
Spreading of Manure or Fertilizers: Excessive use of manure or chemical fertilizers can lead to nutrient runoff, contributing to phosphorus and nitrogen levels in nearby water bodies. Farmers should reduce or halt this practice unless they have systems in place to capture or offset the runoff.
Ploughing or Tilling Near Watercourses: Soil disturbance near water bodies can increase the risk of nutrient-rich sediment entering rivers. Practices like no-till farming or buffer strips can help reduce this risk.
Intensive Livestock Operations Near Waterways: Runoff from intensive farming operations, especially those close to rivers, can carry significant nutrient loads. Implementing sustainable waste management practices is essential to reducing this risk.