Nutrient Budget Calculator
Our nutrient budget calculator is now live.
This tool enables you to calculate the phosphate levels that a proposed commercial and residential development in Ceredigion could produce.
This is a free resource, designed specifically for West Wales, it will support you to understand the impact of your development and will allow you to confirm the proposed development’s phosphate budget and consider mitigations.
We have produced a Calculator Guidance document and a Calculator Technical Review as an instructional guide to help you use the calculator which also explains where data has been gathered from and how calculations have been deduced. Separate mitigation guidelines have been produced for each river catchment. These can be accessed here:
West Wales Mitigation Guidelines
Please use the West Wales nutrient budget calculator to assess whether development will increase nutrient loading to a European site/SAC and whether the development is within a catchment that drains to an affected European site.
If the answer is yes to the question/s noted below:
1 or
2 and 3 or
2 and 4
- Whether the development is within a catchment that drains to an affected European site.
- Whether the receiving Wastewater Treatment Works discharges to an affected European site.
- Whether the development will lead to an increase in ‘overnight stays’.
- Whether the development will lead to an increase in the number of customers/users or employees coming into the catchment of the SAC river from outside of the catchment to work (in this context a user is defined as a person who may use a service or facilities provided by the development without being directly considered as a customer).
Guidance Document for the Calculator - this document has been compiled as an instructional guide to help you use the calculator.
How it works
Simply input the information specific to your development, and site, into the calculator and work through the stages - instructions have been provided to help you.
The calculator will produce a value of phosphorus in kg per annum. The end value can be used to help you consider your phosphate mitigation options. The calculator will not estimate the amount of land required for any form of mitigation due to the numerous variables in nature-based solutions that may vary depending on proposed maintenance, maturity and site-specific conditions.
The mitigation guidelines, will further assist you in the selection and implementation of mitigation options.
Although it is not required that you use this calculator, we strongly encourage you to do so. Any applications submitted using alternative calculators will be subject to additional scrutiny to determine their relevance to conditions in the county.
Disclaimer
The Council, does not accept liability for any direct or indirect damage, loss or inconvenience caused by the downloading and use of this phosphate calculator from the Council’s website.
Please refer to the Technical Guide for an explanation of the data sets and calculations used in the calculator. If you have any comments, please let us know by emailing ldp@ceredigion.gov.uk. The calculator will be subject to periodic reviews and updates to ensure it is based on the best available evidence and accurately reflects the local conditions.