Monthly Archives: January 2022

Phosphate Success in Cornwall – PL31

We have been issuing Phosphate Assessment Reports in Somerset for over a year now, and the situation for many developers is becoming quite awful with delays now of over a year in decision making. We have made enquiries with Natural England as to why.

We have had some good news however, with one of our reports recently passed off in Bodmin, Cornwall (Postcode – PL31). This site suggested use of a package treatment plant, a filter tank, and a constructed wetland land (reed bed) to treat water prior to discharge to the Camel River. The site is immediately adjacent to the Camel SAC, so was quite a high risk site, yet the result was successful.

Nationaly we now have reports passed off in Sussex, Somerset and Cornwall, and thus feel failry cofient that our method is acceptable on the whole. Please ring to talk about your site. No Obligation of course.,

You can read more about Phosphate Assessments and Nutrient Neutrality on our main Website.

Carbon Footprint Work for Shopfitters – PL21

We have this week, complete two sets of carbon footprint calculations for a shopfitting firm in the Southwest of England.

The footprint work we have undertaken, will allow them to easily present a carbon footprint for a job, alongside their cost estimate. Some of their clients find this information important.

The method used was an input / output model. This allows us to calculate the carbon footprint of an item based on it cost. The method is perhaps the least accurate method for carbon footprinting. However, it is much much more likely to be undertaken owing to the simplicity of the method.

Tradition life cycle assessment and the subsequent carbon footprinting work can be be very time consuming, and prone to data gaps, which in turn result in incomplete studies. More time also means more money (greater cost) and as such companies with complex supply chains can be reluctant to undertake traditional LCA carbon footprinting as it coosts such a great deal.

The carbon footprinting values we have provided, slip easily in to existing reporting frameworks, and can be used to provide greater insight, in to the capital carbon involved in the various projects undertaken.

Location: 92PW+FR Ivybridge

Phosphates Mitigation Reports

2021 was quite a busy year for Southwest Environmental Limited, we had a fairly typical work load from our long term client base, however we have seen a lot of new work from new clients relating to phosphate assessments, and nutrient neutrality.

We have undertaken reports mainly in the Southwest, however we have also undertaken some reporting for sites in the south east, in the vicinity of Stodmarsh.

Despite having a few reports passed off, and dealing with 100’s of emails with regards to extra details, from planners, natural england, and ecologists the majority of applications mired by the Phosphate Issue remain in limbo.

It would appear there is no one cable or willing to make a decision to pass off the reports.

Some of the older reports date back to November 2020, and as you might expect that is a long time to wait for news on a planning application.

A Phosphate Ion – Creative Commons License (NEUROtiker)

Our reports are now however quite thorough in terms of their content. We have iron out early wrinkles experience in early days of 2021, and had many discussions with consultees and planners, adjust and refining our reporting process each time to meet content requirements.

We have advised on on-site schemes, such as reed beds, or on-site woodland (sometimes a combination of both), and we have a method for reduce reed bed sizes using a special filtration method.

Some sites are not able to implement on-site schemes owing to perhaps lack of space or proximity to mains sewer. In these instances we have specified off-site mitigation schemes such as woodland. Off-site reed bed schemes are a very complicated proposition.

If you would like to discuss your project and any associated phosphate, nitrate or nutrient issues associated with it. Then please do contact us.

Read more about Phosphate Assessments on our website.