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Credits (total, perm.)

1 Catchment & nutrientNatural England nutrient neutrality

Optional — for your own cost estimate only; not part of the planning assessment and not shown on the report. Enter price per kg (1 credit = 1 kg). See indicative prices below.
💷 Indicative credit prices (guide only — last checked August 2026)
Credit prices are not part of the nutrient calculation and aren't shown on the report — they're only to help you gauge cost. Prices change and vary by provider, so treat these as a rough guide and confirm with the seller. All figures are per kg of nutrient (1 credit = 1 kg).
  • Poole Harbour — £3,250/kg N (Natural England, official). Dorset Council also runs its own scheme, now selling both temporary and permanent credits: £406/kg N temporary and £1,840/kg N permanent (+ £360 admin fee per transaction; 1 credit = 1 kg TN/yr) — usually cheaper than the NE credits
  • Tees — £2,700/kg N (Natural England, official)
  • Solent (incl. Chichester) — ≈ £2,500–£5,000/kg N (private market, e.g. EnTrade/PfSH)
  • Stodmarsh — ≈ £2,350/kg N & ≈ £35,000/kg P (Stour Environmental Credits; quoted as £235 & £3,500 per 0.1 kg)
  • Broads / Yare (Norfolk) — ≈ £3,650/kg P permanent, ≈ £2,500/kg P temporary (Norfolk Environmental Credits; both + VAT)
  • Cumbria — Eden, Derwent & Bassenthwaite, Kent, Esthwaite — official P credit scheme now live: £10,000/kg P temporary, £28,000/kg P permanent (both + VAT); Cumbria Nutrient Neutrality Partnership. Availability varies by sub-catchment; note the LPA-specific occupancy rates adopted 1 May 2026
  • Other catchments — council or private market; price varies, none published by NE.
Sources: gov.uk NE mitigation scheme (Poole, Tees); solentnutrientmarket.org.uk; stourenvironmentalcredits.co.uk; norfolkenvironmentalcredits.co.uk; cumbrianutrientneutrality.co.uk; dorsetcouncil.gov.uk. Energycount reviews these periodically — figures may have moved since the date above.

2 Project details

3 Waste water from the new dwellingsWorksheet 1

NE default 2.4 — change only with evidence. Cumbria catchments (Eden, Derwent & Bassenthwaite, Kent, Esthwaite) require LPA-specific rates from 1 May 2026 — see the catchment note above.
NE adds a +10 l/p/d allowance on top.

4 Current land use being changedWorksheet 2

Only the areas of land whose use is being altered by the development. Export coefficients are indicative defaults — replace with the official catchment value for your soil / rainfall / NVZ.

5 Future land use after developmentWorksheet 3

The land cover present on the same area once built (e.g. residential urban land, open urban land, greenspace).

6 SuDS nutrient removal (optional)Worksheet 4

From a drainage assessment using CIRIA C808 (P) / C815 (N) removal rates. SuDS removal reduces the post-development surface-water load and is applied within the future-land-use term. Leave 0 if none.

7 Nutrient budget & creditsWorksheet 5

Free to use on screen. See an example report

Report logo: Energycount — consultants: brand the report as your own

About this calculator & the methodology

Nutrient neutrality means a new residential development will not cause a net increase in nutrient pollution to a protected habitats site. Natural England catchments are assessed for nitrogen, phosphorus, or both — e.g. Poole Harbour and the Solent (incl. Chichester Harbour) are nitrogen; the River Avon (which discharges into Christchurch Harbour) is phosphorus; Stodmarsh and The Broads are both. Where a catchment requires both nutrients this tool calculates both budgets at once; they remain two independent budgets, each mitigated with its own credits. The nutrient budget is (waste water − current land use + (future land use − SuDS)) × 1.2, where the ×1.2 is Natural England's 20% precautionary buffer. Waste-water load = occupancy × units × water use (l/p/d, incl. NE's +10 l/p/d allowance) × 365 × nutrient concentration (mg/l) ÷ 1,000,000. For mains drainage the concentration is the waste water treatment works permit (with a separate post-2030 figure where a WINEP upgrade applies); for off-mains, NE's default total-nitrogen concentrations are 96.3 mg/l (septic tank) and 72.9 mg/l (package treatment plant), and total-phosphorus 11.6 mg/l (septic tank) and 9.7 mg/l (package treatment plant). One credit mitigates 1 kg of the nutrient per year. The land-use export coefficients vary by catchment, soil drainage type, rainfall band and NVZ status — this tool exposes them as editable fields so you can enter the value from the official Natural England calculator's lookup for your site. Where your LPA or Natural England require the statutory calculation, reproduce these figures in the current official NE catchment calculator. This tool is for guidance and planning support and is not a substitute for that calculator or for ecological/engineering advice.

Energycount Limited · NutrientMonkey · Implements Natural England's Nutrient Neutrality Generic Methodology (NECR459) and catchment calculator approach · Covers all 27 NE catchments (nitrogen & phosphorus) · For guidance only — confirm against the current official Natural England calculator