South Somerset District Council approves phosphate credits schemes
On 3rd November, South Somerset District Council (SSDC) District Executive discussed a report (Item 7) regarding proposals for schemes to release phosphate (P) credits within the Somerset Levels and Moors Ramsar catchment, and unlock stalled housing developments.
The District Executive agreed:
- the structure that would be required to ensure that any third-party nutrient neutrality credit market will provide appropriate safeguards to both the Council (as the Competent Authority) and Natural England (as the relevant adviser), to ensure land-use projects are designed to an appropriate specification, and provide certainty of delivery of the agreed P credits,
- to delegate to lead officers the authority to confirm to landowners who can demonstrate that they can meet the provisions set out in this report that their credit sales will be accepted as providing an appropriate solution to securing nutrient neutrality.
We have developed the Somerset Catchment Market so it can be applied as a third-party nutrient credit market, using a collaborative and transparent approach with SSDC and Natural England. We are confident we can comply with the requirements set out in the SSDC decision and will shortly receive confirmation from SSDC that they will accept nutrient neutrality credits acquired through the Somerset Catchment Market. We plan to formalise this with SSDC over the next few weeks.
Next Steps
We will continue to work with our initial pipeline of suppliers to ensure that we have strong project offers in the Parrett eligible area. In December, we will begin wider engagement with landholders, including suppliers of short-term projects such as Arable Reversion that can provide bridging credits, and potential wetland suppliers in the Brue eligible area.
We will write to developers, who have previously expressed an interest (EOI) in buying phosphorus credits to unlock their developments in South Somerset, to ask them to confirm their interest in using the Market, and to confirm the currency of their phosphorus credit requirements. Developers will be asked to confirm that their budget calculator submissions are up to date.
For developers who were unable to express an interest via the Market’s initial EOI portal, the option to use the Market still remains open. Interest can be signalled by sending details of your requirements by email to david.baxter@entrade.co.uk When expressing an interest, you should include a summary of the development affected (including the planning application reference) and attach a completed Phosphorus Budget calculator.
When will the Market be open?
We will be working over the coming weeks to finalise the legal and governance processes that will allow us to run the first Market Round. This will enable us to share the Market Rules and template legal agreements with potential Market participants. We aim to share these key documents before Christmas. We will give potential participants time to consider all the information before they decide to formally register and make their offer. This means we expect the first Round of the Market will open for offers to be made in February, with market settlement and contracting before the end of March. We anticipate that subsequent Market Rounds will occur at intervals of four to six months.