To consider Notices of Motion.

Motion – Cabinet Commission on Phosphates

Councillor Toni Fagan proposed the motion.

Councillor Jennie Hewitt seconded the motion.

Council debated the motion.

An alteration to the motion was raised. The following clarifications were raised:

·         Greater precision in paragraph 1 regarding the river systems within the scope of the motion;

·         Greater context and qualification of the cumulative impact of development, in paragraph 1, to include specific mention of housing, agricultural and industrial development;

·         To remove the wording of agency partners from the introduction to paragraph 2; to remove any confusion as to the bodies responsible for asking the Environment Agency and Natural England to undertake the actions listed in the paragraph;

·         To include in paragraph 3 a further element for consideration in the update of the Local Plan; by including a bullet point decommission of intensive poultry units that have reached the end of useful life; and

·         To include in paragraph 4 mention of the need to co-ordinate with Powys County Council. 

The alterations were acceptable to the Proposer and Seconder of the motion and were therefore incorporated into the proposed motion.

In summary there was support across the Council for the identified areas of urgent action for inclusion in the remit of the proposed Cabinet Commission on Phosphates, as altered by the points of clarification above.

Councillor Fagan closed the debate.

The motion, as altered by the points of clarification above, was put to the vote and was carried.

RESOLVED – That:

We welcome all the actions that Herefordshire Council and other statutory partners have taken and continue to take to address the issue of phosphate over-loading of the River Wye SAC.

As scientific research now exists which indicates that further impactful and coordinated responses are required to save the river catchment from permanent eutrophication, this motion calls upon the executive to:

Consider including the following areas of urgent action in the remit of the proposed Cabinet Commission on Phosphates:

1.     Request of government that:

•         the new Minister in charge of Defra clarifies what additional evidence they require before they would be prepared to reconsider the Council’s Water Protection Zone request for the Wye;

•         DEFRA commission the catchment-wide appraisal of nutrient flows in the Wye (and all other river systems within Herefordshire) that will inform and enable consideration of the cumulative impact of housing, agricultural and industrial development.

2.     Request that:

•         the Environment Agency improve the effectiveness of their regulatory and enforcement actions and their work with partners, to deliver best practice in sewerage treatment and manure management and to encourage and support the ongoing work of compliant farm businesses.

•         Natural England update their current (2011) River Wye water quality data in relation to the SSSI and SAC targets in a timeframe which is aligned to the current update of the Herefordshire Local Plan; and provide guidance on appropriate conditioning of permissions to achieve the necessary reduction targets.

3.     Identify now how best to use the update of the Local Plan to:

•         recognise and address proportionately the legacy and ongoing contribution to phosphate pollution made by each development sector;

•         promote and support best practice nutrient actions across all sectors;

•         encourage and incentivise catchment restoration through alternative, restorative and regenerative land use; and

•         decommission intensive poultry units that have reached the end of useful life.

4.     Using the ‘precautionary principle’ explore immediately the adoption of a planning position statement for all future development which accurately reflects the sector risks identified in research; and reinstating the consideration of ‘cumulative impact’, in co-ordination with Powys County Council, to ensure that the Supplementary Planning Document on Agricultural Development, which is already in progress, enables officers to exercise the full extent of the council’s planning powers in these regards.

5.     Consider urgently how data sharing, data management and data visualisation can support science-led and evidence-based decision-making at all levels and across all stakeholders.