Over the last few years, and as a result of a case heard in the European court in late 2018, public body Natural England (NE) has been reviewing the impact of new development on water quality in several protected sites across the country.

In 2019, this was focused around the need to achieve nutrient neutrality – ensuring developments don’t contribute overall to nitrate or phosphate pollution in water – in a number of areas.

However as the NE review has continued, this has now encompassed the need to achieve water neutrality in parts of the south east. Water neutrality means ensuring developments do not add to total water extraction in a region.

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