Nutrient credit scheme

The NBS utilised shall have multiple benefits, however their primary goal is to improve water quality, through a reduction in nutrient inputs. With climate change, water temperatures can rise, and flow rates reduce, increasing the likelihood of eutrophication, impacting drinking water and native flora and fauna. By reducing nutrient inputs this lowers the risk of eutrophication. 

The Nutrient Credit Scheme development in the Westcountry Region aims to create a market where developers can purchase phosphate nutrient credits to offset the building of new properties. Following the Dutch N judgement, houses built in Special areas of Conservation (SAC) in the UK, are required to offset the amount of phosphate produced by the new property. Creating a sellable ‘nutrient credit’ requires upfront investment in order to undertake the phosphate offset solution. In the Westcountry region offsetting has typically been in the form of Nature Based Solutions that have climate change adaption benefits such as riparian buffers, natural wetland creation and restoration and constructed wetlands linked to a nutrient input.