A Somerset councillor has called for greater scientific study of the impact of phosphates in a bid to unlock thousands of new homes.

Around 12,000 homes across Somerset are being held up following the Dutch N court ruling and the resulting Natural England legal advice, with developers having to provide additional mitigation to prevent any net increase in phosphates on the Somerset Levels and Moors.

Councillor Henry Hobhouse (whose Castle Cary division has seen significant housing growth in the last decade) has claimed that existing mitigation being pursued by Somerset Council is not effective and that thousands of homes could be unlocked merely by Wessex Water’s planned upgrades to waste water treatment plants.

Mr Hobhouse is now putting together a task and finish group which will investigate the scientific issue surrounding phosphates and recommend changes to the council’s current approach.

Mr Hobhouse made his plea when the council’s climate and place scrutiny committee convened in Taunton on Monday morning (September 23).

He said: “We need volunteers for this task and finish group. It is going to be quite technical.

“We will need to talk to Dr Andrew Clegg, who can prove that on West Sedgemoor and Wetmoor, both moors are exporting phosphates as opposed to importing them from the river catchment. That makes a fundamental difference to what is happening.

“Wessex Water has employed a scientists whose sole job it is to look at the movement of phosphates onto and off of the various Ramsar sites.

“The trouble is that we have got no information on the other five moors because no-one has done any science on this. We also don’t know how much of the catchment pollution gets onto the moors, if any.”


READ MORE: Somerset water bills may rise to unlock new homes in Dorset

READ MORE: Around 12k Somerset homes remain in phosphates crisis limbo


 

If the moors are exporting phosphates rather then retaining them, it makes it much easier for new homes to be delivered within the Levels and Moors catchment area – especially in conjunction with Wessex Water’s planned upgrades, which run to early-2030.

Dr Clegg confirmed Mr Hobhouse’s stance following the latter’s previous statements on the phosphates crisis, which were delivered at a meeting of the council’s strategic planning committee on September 16.

Dr Clegg said: “Under normal conditions, very little of the River Parrett’s water – less than one per cent – flows onto the Levels Ramsar sites.

“Contrary to received wisdom, the Parrett removes phosphate from the Ramsar sites; it does not deposit phosphate on them.

“I have sampled in two Ramsar sites, Wetmore and West Sedgemoor.   In Wetmoor phosphate contamination is very low.

“In West Sedgemoor, the phosphate  contamination is much higher and mostly from local agriculture on the Stoke St Gregory side.

“Wessex Water is about to complete a major overhaul of the largest sewage works feeding the Parrett. Sewage works at Crewkerne, Merriott, Martock, South Petherton, and Langport are being fitted with large retention ponds designed to decrease the frequency of storm overflows.

“These works are also being fitted with phosphate removal stages, which should in total reduce the amount of phosphate entering the river by about 15 tonnes per year, enough to offset about 30,000 homes.

“The work at South Petherton has been completed and we have already noted a reduction of about 60 per cent in the phosphate load entering the Parrett from it.”

Councillor Martin Dimery (Frome West), who chairs the committee, called for the task and finish group to be set up by the end of the week and to meet very soon.

He said: “We’ve had a list of names sat there, who’ve been waiting to do something.

“It would be good if this group can sit before our next meeting so they can report back.

“There has been a huge debate on this issue and it has been quite contentious. To actually get the full picture is quite difficult.”

Councillor Alan Bradford (North Petherton) added: “I admire what Henry is doing on this – he must be going barking mad with frustration.

“The length of time it takes to do this – if you were running your own business and it took this long to make decisions, I don’t know what would happen.”

An update is expected to come back before the committee when it holds its next meeting on November 11.