MORE wetlands could be created across Somerset in a bid to unlock thousands of new houses.

Around 12,000 homes across the county have been held up by the phosphates crisis, with developers having to secure additional mitigation to prevent any net increase in phosphates on the Somerset Levels and Moors.

Somerset Council was awarded £9.6m from central government to be spent on a number of solutions to ease the crisis and deliver much-needed new housing.

The council laid out its original plans for how this funding would be utilised in March, providing details of six projects which would be prioritised.

But the council has now changed its mind following feedback from landowners and other relevant stakeholders – and to ensure all the funding can be spent before the end of the current financial year.

The council originally allocated the £9.6m grant in the following ways, including but not limited to:

  • Retrofitting social housing, replacing older septic tanks with package treatment plants (£1m)
  • Nature-based solutions on council-owned land, such as wetlands or local nature reserves (£2m)
  • Miscanthus grass pilot, working with Taunton-based Miscanthus Nursery to grow miscanthus grass (a.k.a. elephant grass) which can absorb large quantities of phosphates from the soil (£640,000)

The council held a ‘call for sites’ for land- or nature-based solutions which led to 70 different sites across Somerset being put forward for either phosphate mitigation, biodiversity net gain or a mixture. Of these, 12 have already been assessed, 13 are currently being assessed, 14 will be assessed within the coming weeks and 31 were screened out as unsuitable.

The 25 sites which have been wholly or partially assessed could deliver more than 500 phosphate credits, unlocking hundreds if not thousands of new homes.

Map showing the extent of the Orchard Grove house-building (red and yellow), the new primary school site (pink) and the fallowed land (green) (Picture: Somerset West and Taunton Council)
Map showing the extent of the Orchard Grove house-building (red and yellow), the new primary school site (pink) and the fallowed land (green) (Picture: Somerset West and Taunton Council) (Map showing the extent of the Orchard Grove house-building (red and yellow), the new primary school site (pink) and the fallowed land (green) (Picture: Somerset West and Taunton Council))

To deal with this additional demand, the council has decided to revise how the government grant will be used, with £5.6m being allocated to deliver as many of these sites as humanly possible.

Of the remainder, £3.5m will be dedicated to a number of different project to create “bridging credits” – providing phosphate mitigation until 2030 without having to fallow additional land.

These efforts will include the Salinity Solutions trial, the miscanthus grass trial and “other potential opportunities” to increase supply.

Councillor Sarah Wakefield, portfolio holder for adult services, housing and homelessness, questioned whether growing miscanthus grass would prove a cost-effective use of government funding.

Ms Wakefield represents the Blackdown and Neroche division, which includes numerous development sites on the edge of Wellington – including the Westpark 26 employment site and the Jurston Fields development, which is currently the subject of a lengthy court challenge over phosphate mitigation.

She said: “Are people planting more of the stuff? I know it’s a fuel but it didn’t work very well the first tie around.”

Kate Murdoch, the council’s service manager for strategic policy and implementation, replied: “We are using this as a temporary bridging credit as an alternative to fallowing land.”

A further discussion of the phosphates crisis is expected at a council meeting on Monday November 11.