Why Buy with Burrow?

We are delighted to announce that Somerset Council have signed and sealed a brand new agreement with Burrow for the provision of Phosphate Credits. As an Approved Provider, we can quickly provide certificates to get your development over the line and finalise the mitigation pre-occupation.

Obtain Burrow’s Reservation Certificates pre-grant. Planning Permission can be granted on the strength of these Certificates when Nutrient Neutrality would otherwise stop your Planning Application from going to Committee. Post-grant, Allocation Certificates are issued within a short timeframe, matching the pace of the off-site mitigation works.

Yes, you read it right! Developers no longer need a costly and time-consuming Section 106 Agreement with the Council to cover Nutrient Neutrality when using Reservation Certificates and Allocation Certificates from our scheme.

The scheme is fully approved by Natural England. Developers do not need to wait for Natural England to vet or approve mitigation measures when you use Burrow’s P-Credits. The credits are verified and registered with Somerset Council as a matter of course. We provide a Shadow Habitats Regulations Assessment (sHRA) template from the Council, which is populated with the details of the Application, and references the Nutrient Neutrality and Mitigation Strategy report (NNAMS) which is still required. For the NNAMS report we can put you in touch with a cost-effective and efficient ecologist who can prepare this for you, including the calculations from the Phosphate Budget Calculator https://www.somerset.gov.uk/planning-buildings-and-land/phosphate-budget-calculator. Your case officer can then adopt the sHRA as the HRA and proceed to recommend your Application for approval, without having to consult Natural England over Nutrient Neutrality.

The P-Credit system offers a more predictable and potentially lower cost for meeting phosphorus mitigation requirements compared to developing and implementing custom solutions. For larger developments the rate will usually be £37,500/kg. For small developments it is often possible to offset the entire project for £4,000, contact us so we can put a proposal together for your specific case.

Burrow’s agreement includes provisions for re-reservation of credits in cases where development plans change, for example withdrawal of planning applications or refusal of permission.

Developers can meet the stringent requirements of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 either without needing to design and implement their own phosphorus mitigation strategies, or using Burrow’s credits to “top-up” on-site mitigation measures to fully achieve Nutrient Neutrality.

Developers do not need to invest in or manage on-site phosphorus reduction systems, which is especially important for urban or small-scale developers who have little or no options for on-site mitigation of phosphorus.

The scheme is centred on the improvement of the local environment by implementing the replacement of outdated septic tanks and old PTPs with modern, efficient systems that prevent almost all phosphate from entering the local environment. However, these systems also dramatically reduce pollution from Nitrates, Suspended Solids, Ammonia, and Biological Oxygen Demand.