I have just received notification from the planning development manager at county hall about a government directive that could have the effect of delaying some planning applications in our area.
At this stage it appears that the number and type of applications that could be held up is unclear. However, I have reproduced the notification below in full, along with a link to additional guidance from the government's Planning Advisory Service.
I'll publish any additional guidance as soon as I am notified:
Last month, somewhat out of the blue, we received notification from the Government’s advisors on the natural environment, Natural England of the need for us to immediately consider the issue of nitrate pollution in the river Tees catchment area in relation to certain types of planning applications.
This issue mainly relates to nitrogen levels from waste water and the subsequent nutrient levels within the ‘Special Protection Area’ of the River Tees, which is the waste water catchment area for your Division. I have attached a summary guide to the issue provided by Natural England and further advice can be found on line through the Planning Advisory Service at the following link: Nutrient Neutrality and the planning system | LocalGovernment Association.
As a result of this notification from Natural England we now have a legal duty to consider the issue as part of relevant planning applications that we receive in the catchment area. This applies to all present full and outline planning applications for developments such a new housing and tourist accommodation proposals. From a trawl of the present planning register we feel there are around 40 applications presently affected.
We will shortly be writing out to applicants who are now caught up in this notification to advise them that we will need to pause determination of their application until the issue has been considered and addressed. In this respect we have formed an internal working group to look at the impact of the notification and how we feel this can be worked through going forward.
I hope the above is helpful to update you on the issue in general and conscious of the fact that you may well receive contact from disgruntled applicants who are now faced with an unforeseen delay in their planning applications.