DAMAGING “group-think” regarding phosphates is holding back genuine progress on unlocking new homes across Somerset, according to one Taunton resident.

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.

But Taunton resident David Orr has contended that the council remains tied to policy positions which are now out of date, in contrast to its Dorset counterparts.

“Dorset Council, together with Defra and Natural England, has changed its policy, so that phosphorus mitigation is no longer required in Dorset for the Poole Harbour catchment," he said at a November 11 meeting.

Under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 (known colloquially as LURA), water companies were ordered to upgrade their waste water treatment plants to remove larger quantities of phosphates than was originally permitted.

These upgrades must be implemented by May 2031 and must be applied to all waste water treatment plants which serve a population of 2,000 or more people.

Wessex Water has publicly committed to upgrading all the applicable Somerset plants by April 1, 2030, and has entered into an agreement with the council to implement “stretch permits” at its Langport, Taunton and Wells site which will see additional phosphates removed on top of the LURA requirements.

However, in Dorset, Wessex Water has committed to upgrading all waste plants which serve 1,000 people or more – allowing larger quantities of phosphate to be taken out of the Poole Harbour catchment.

Lobby DEFRA

The council needed to lobby Defra to “level the nutrient playing field” as Orr called for further information on how £9.6m of government funding to mitigate phosphates was being spent.

“My abiding impression with regard to nutrient neutrality policy in this council is that it is dominated by ‘group-think’, and there is an absurd amount of effort going into defending a damaging status quo policy, first formulated four years ago.”

The council’s executive committee confirmed in early-November that £5.6m of the funding provided by the government in December 2023 would be spent on creating new land- or nature-based solutions – including new wetlands on land owned by the council, developers or third parties.

Of the remainder, £3.5m will be dedicated to a number of different project to create “bridging credits” – in other words, providing phosphate mitigation up to 2030 without having to fallow additional agricultural land.

The committee will hold its next meeting in Taunton December 20.