Norfolk Rivers Consortium neutralises nutrient neutrality issue for local housebuilder.

While no-one wants pollution, the reality of nutrient neutrality is more divisive, for some the difference between life and death, professionally speaking.

And so it was for regional housebuilder Oakfields Homes who were three weeks away from breaking ground on their biggest development to date when Natural England more than doubled its list of nutrient neutrality-affected LPAs (Local Planning Authorities).

More than three years later, the development – Ten Oaks in Hoveton, Norfolk, one of two villages on the River Bure referred to as the “Capital of the Broads” – is over halfway complete and being marketed by estate agents as an eco-friendly cul-de-sac collection of 23 bungalows and five houses, priced from £345,000.

Oakfields Homes director Jacob Carver knows exactly who to thank for redeeming his family’s life savings – Rodger Harrison, founder and managing director of Norfolk Rivers Consortium, which helps developers negotiate the minefield of nutrient neutrality.

Within months of commissioning the consortium to help them, Rodger and co-director Zak Simmonds had won them planning permission, and a month later, in November 2024, work began on site. Ten Oaks is now due to complete in January (2026). 

Jacob had spent months trying to resolve the nutrient neutrality issue himself, including enlisting the help of a former nutrient neutrality advisor to Norfolk County Council whose report got them past the first hurdle with the county council … but no further.

While his scheme to gain nutrient neutrality credits by upgrading non-compliant septic tanks for eight individual properties throughout Norfolk was acceptable in theory, the Section 106 legalities proved the stumbling block.

It was in this aspect that Norfolk Rivers Consortium more than proved their worth.

Jacob was referred to the consortium by the nutrient neutrality advisor although he actually already knew Rodger as he had already used his drainage company, Harrison Civils, which has 25+ years of expertise in the sewage treatment sector, on a couple of their projects.

“Rodger saw the crux of the issue immediately. Norfolk had an issue with the Section 106 unilateral undertakings with the eight tank holders. The council didn’t seem to have a very good idea of what was required, and they were very nervous to do anything, and we were running out of funds at the time. 

“He definitely did save our business. I don’t know what we would have done otherwise. We hadn’t taken the issue of nutrient neutrality too seriously to start with, and then slowly in the weeks and months following, the gravity of the situation became clear.

“I started to find out how advanced Rodger’s nutrient neutrality mitigation scheme was and that he had the credits available to help us. Obviously, there was a lot of relief after spending such a long time stuck in limbo.”

Jacob added: “Rodger has a very good business model going forward and has charged his fees at a fair market price. We were the first developer in the county to get approval, and we will 100% be using him again.”

Nutrient neutrality as a planning policy in England gained prominence in 2019 when Natural England first advised LPAs about the issue following a 2018 European Court of Justice ruling. This ruling, known as the “Dutch Nitrogen Case”, related to the impact of nutrient pollution, specifically nitrogen and phosphates, on protected sites.

Norfolk Rivers Consortium works alongside Natural England and the Environment Agency to reduce water contamination in England’s rivers and achieve nutrient neutrality in large parts of the country.

Rodger Harrison said: “We were delighted to provide Jacob with technical mitigation reports which work out and determine the amounts of phosphate and nitrogen which needed to be offset. This amounted to eight properties which had to have their septic tanks upgraded to new Graf UK eco-friendly sewage treatment plants to compensate for the new, mains drains development they were building. We carried out all of the surveying, engineering and legal work on behalf of Oakfields Homes.”

Jacob said: “I found the whole of Rodger’s team very professional, with special mention to Zak for putting all the reports together for the council. It is a sad state of affairs that the planning system is completely broken in this country. More red tape and more taxes are pushing the price of land up at a time when the country needs more houses to be built, and the nutrient neutrality issue just feels like another tax to us.” 

Meanwhile, Oakfields Homes, which has grown from a single house project in 2010 to the 28 units at Ten Oaks, is confident enough in the support it gets from the Norfolk Rivers Consortium to embark on an even more aggressive growth strategy, a far cry from a year ago when the family’s life savings were at risk.

And the same goes for the Norfolk Rivers Consortium, whose success in getting its business model to be the first accepted by an LPA has encouraged the company to take it nationwide, with the launch of the National Rivers Consortium!