Nutrient Mitigation Call for Land

Overview

Put your land forward to be considered for Dorset Council's Nitrogen Mitigation Delivery in the Poole Harbour Catchment.

Welcome to Dorset Council's Nitrogen Mitigation Call for Land. We are interested in receiving submissions from landowners and farmers for land that will help us deliver nitrogen mitigation in the Poole Harbour Catchment. We are primarily looking for mitigation projects which will involve a permanent land-use change. We may consider some limited amount of mitigation involving a temporary land-use change for up to 5 years. 

For guidance on why the council needs mitigation projects, suitability of land and management changes which would be required, please refer to the guidance note for farmers and landowners in Poole Harbour catchment June 2024.

Mitigation projects will need to be within Poole Harbour Catchment, illustrated below. For a comprehensive map detailing the Poole Harbour catchment boundary and river network please select the following link: DorsetExplorer. 

Suitability of land in the Poole Harbour catchment

The underlying geology in Poole Harbour Catchment is varied and particularly important for determining land suitability for mitigation. Chalk is a highly permeable rock, forming high down land that drains into groundwater and then into streams and rivers. Nitrates may take years to reach watercourses and so land away from them will be less suitable for delivering development mitigation. It may be necessary to conduct additional hydrogeological surveys to establish these time delays.

In areas with sands, clays and gravels (in the west and east of the catchment) there is often more surface runoff, multiple smaller watercourses and more drainage ditches. Therefore, this land will likely be more suitable for delivering mitigation.

The nutrient reduction attributed to the land-use change will take into account previous and current management of the land and will use the outputs from the Natural England calculator for the Poole Harbour catchment. The council will assess and prioritise sites for consideration in accordance with the assessment criteria as outlined in the guidance note for farmers and landowners in Poole harbour catchment June 2024.

Data Protection and Freedom of Information

By responding you are accepting that your response and the information within will be in the public domain, and it may be disclosed if requested under the Freedom of Information Act. However, any published information will not contain personal details of the individuals.

Your information will be retained by the council in line with its information retention schedule. Your data will be destroyed once the plan becomes redundant. See details of our Data Privacy and GDPR policy. 

If you have any concerns about how your information is used please contact: mitigationdelivery@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk