Agenda item
Motion 1
Decision:
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RESOLVED: |
That Full Council agreed to:- |
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a. |
instruct the Chief Executive to write to the relevant Government Ministers, i.e. the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural affairs (Rebecca Pow MP), and the Secretary of State (The Right Honourable George Eustice MP) requesting urgent intervention and immediate resourcing for statutory agencies to address the issues of phosphate overload which are ravaging South Somerset’s economy, ecology and communities;
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b. |
press the recently-established Defra/DLUHC Ministerial Task Force to work to reduce nutrient pollution by establishing a strategically-led co-ordinated approach through the Environment Agency (EA) or Natural England (NE) with non-government stakeholders such as the Home Builders Federation (HBF), Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Local Government Association (LGA), recognising that this is an industry responsibility. And press the EA and NE to recognise their joint responsibility to establish a strategically led co-ordinated approach;
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c. |
urge Central Government to pressure Ofwat to adopt a strategic approach to adopting measures which ensure development is phosphate neutral in the catchment area for the Somerset Levels and Moors Ramsar Site, including short term temporary measures followed up by long term strategic mitigation measures, such as a large-scale habitat creation scheme, to ensure phosphate neutrality;
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d. |
demand that Wessex Water bring forward and increase its 5-10 year investment in the removal of phosphates from sewage at its treatment plants of all sizes which discharge into the catchment of all local rivers, including their tributaries, rhines and ditches;
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e. |
record its dissatisfaction with the severely delayed progress of Wessex Water EnTrade in setting up mitigation arrangements, especially that the necessary legal controls were not presented earlier in the process, thus to unlock development;
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f. |
invite the LGA to bring further pressure on Government and non-Government stakeholders to deliver a strategic programme to ensure phosphate neutrality.
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Council registers its considerable disappointment that neither the Environment Agency (EA) nor Natural England (NE) have been forthcoming with a solution. |
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Council is deeply concerned that this situation has a major negative effect on our local communities and economy, with our Five-year Housing Land Supply projections now negatively affected by NE’s moratorium, disadvantaging South Somerset communities in the long term.
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Reason: |
To propose a resolution to the excessive phosphate issue within the Somerset Levels and Moors Ramsar site which is delaying development. |
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(Voting: 39 in favour, 0 against, 1 abstention)
Minutes:
Councillor Mike Stanton thanked senior planning officers and planning policy officers and his fellow Councillors for their assistance in drafting the motion. He noted that a report from Royal Haskoning had very recently been published which proposed a number of options and one related to Wessex Water agreeing to phosphate stripping during the current cycle to 2025 but the water industry currently had no mechanism in place to accept developer contributions towards improvements to treatment works to allow phosphate stripping. He said further discussion with the Government and Ofwat was needed to establish a pathway to achieve phosphate mitigation which was the purpose of his motion. He noted the damage to plant and wildlife caused by the phosphates which was a problem that could be solved at a sewage treatment works. Wessex Water could install package treatment works for developments but they had no plans to do this until 2025 to 2030 and neither the Government or Ofwat were pressuring them to change their plans. He concluded that the problem had been known for 19 months and a phosphate credit mitigation scheme had been promised within months but none of the key agencies had faced the issue and the credit scheme would not immediately solve the issue. Householders and developers were unable to build or extend their properties and may have to pay up to £15,000 per property for the credit mitigation. Therefore his Motion sought to ask the Government to address the issues as house prices rose and young people could not afford to buy them.
Councillor Sarah Dyke confirmed that she would second the motion.
During discussion, the following points were made:-
· The issue was affecting the delivery of new homes and the building industry.
· Could the County Council provide enabling finance to bring forward the Wessex Water investment?
· The Government had used a Danish nitrate court case from 2018 as the phosphate issue on the Levels and required the phosphate levels to be reduced by 6 times their current level
· 90% of phosphate pollution originated from sewage and the Water Authority were only investing £10m per year in addressing the issue whilst paying £90m to overseas shareholders
· The Government must invest £300m + in the next two to three years to address the issue and allow houses to be built in Somerset.
· Developments could install their own treatment plants.
· The river Axe was now in danger of phosphate pollution and was also to be taken into the same scheme so the whole of the district was affected.
· Could SSDC also work with Dorset and Devon Councils who were also affected by the issue?
· The same phosphate issues were happening in Cambridgshire and Hertfordshire and could spread across the country.
· The environmental impact of the issues affected the quality of the waterways and damaged the local ecology and recovery was uncertain as the levels were below sea level.
· In June 2020 Natural England downgraded the environmental condition of the Somerset Levels Sites of Special Scientific Interest due to water quality issues.
- The phosphate credit mitigation scheme would not remove the phosphate from the Levels and would not address the root cause.
- This impacted the Council’s Environment Strategy and the County-wide Environment Strategy.
- The Government and Ofwat needed to lead on the issue and Wessex Water, Natural England and the Environment Agency needed to work with them.
In response to a question, Councillor Stanton said the motion would be progressed by officers at both SSDC and all the Councils in Somerset however, South Somerset was the most affected area
At the conclusion of the debate, the Motion was put to the vote and passed by 39 votes in favour, 0 against and 1 abstention.
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RESOLVED: |
That Full Council agreed to:- |
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a. |
Instruct the Chief Executive to write to the relevant Government Ministers, i.e. the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural affairs (Rebecca Pow MP), and the Secretary of State (The Right Honourable George Eustice MP) requesting urgent intervention and immediate resourcing for statutory agencies to address the issues of phosphate overload which are ravaging South Somerset’s economy, ecology and communities.
|
|
|
b. |
Press the recently-established Defra/DLUHC Ministerial Task Force to work to reduce nutrient pollution by establishing a strategically-led co-ordinated approach through the Environment Agency (EA) or Natural England (NE) with non-government stakeholders such as the Home Builders Federation (HBF), Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Local Government Association (LGA), recognising that this is an industry responsibility. And press the EA and NE to recognise their joint responsibility to establish a strategically led co-ordinated approach.
|
|
|
c. |
Urge Central Government to pressure Ofwat to adopt a strategic approach to adopting measures which ensure development is phosphate neutral in the catchment area for the Somerset Levels and Moors Ramsar Site, including short term temporary measures followed up by long term strategic mitigation measures, such as a large-scale habitat creation scheme, to ensure phosphate neutrality.
|
|
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d. |
Demand that Wessex Water bring forward and increase its 5-10 year investment in the removal of phosphates from sewage at its treatment plants of all sizes which discharge into the catchment of all local rivers, including their tributaries, rhines and ditches.
|
|
|
e. |
Record its dissatisfaction with the severely delayed progress of Wessex Water EnTrade in setting up mitigation arrangements, especially that the necessary legal controls were not presented earlier in the process, thus to unlock development.
|
|
|
f. |
Invite the LGA to bring further pressure on Government and non-Government stakeholders to deliver a strategic programme to ensure phosphate neutrality.
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Council registers its considerable disappointment that neither the Environment Agency (EA) nor Natural England (NE) have been forthcoming with a solution. |
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Council is deeply concerned that this situation has a major negative effect on our local communities and economy, with our Five-year Housing Land Supply projections now negatively affected by NE’s moratorium, disadvantaging South Somerset communities in the long term.
|
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Reason: |
To propose a resolution to the excessive phosphate issue within the Somerset Levels and Moors Ramsar site which is delaying development. |
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(Voting: 39 in favour, 0 against, 1 abstention)
Supporting documents:
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