Nature market · England
Natural England Nutrient Mitigation Scheme
Natural England creates wetlands and other habitat to offset nutrient pollution, selling credits to developers; it works with landowners to find sites.
- From
- Natural England
- How much
- Not published for landowners.
- Who can apply
- Landowners, long leaseholders, tenant farmers or habitat businesses in covered catchments.
What you’ll need
- Land in a covered catchment (currently Tees and Poole Harbour)
- Willingness to sign a long agreement (usually at least 75 years)
How to apply
- Contact Natural England ([email protected])
UNCLEAR: the GOV.UK page (updated 15 June 2026) is for developers and gives no landowner route. Only Tees and Poole Harbour catchments covered. Landowner terms not published.
Similar schemes
- Biodiversity Net Gain - selling off-site biodiversity units OpenNatural England (register) / local planning authoritiesCreate or improve habitat on your land and sell the 'biodiversity units' to developers who must make up for habitat lost.
- Environment Bank habitat banks OpenEnvironment Bank LtdLeases (or buys) your land for at least 30 years to create a habitat bank, pays you annually and sells the biodiversity units to developers itself.
- Stour Environmental Credits OpenStour Environmental Credits Ltd (Kent councils)Sells nutrient credits to developers in the Stour catchment and pays landowners to carry out mitigation (e.g. wetlands, stream enhancement) from the proceeds.
- EnTrade nature markets (nutrient, biodiversity, carbon) Open all yearEnTrade (Wessex Water spin-out; JV with Arup from 2026)Runs auction 'market rounds' where farmers offer projects such as wetlands, woodland, grassland or cover crops and developers or water companies bid to buy the resulting credits.
- Nattergal wildland habitat banks Open all yearNattergal LtdCreates large rewilding sites and sells biodiversity net gain units from them; partners with estates (e.g. Herstmonceux Castle Estate) to restore land and generate nature income.
- Norfolk Environmental Credits Open all yearNorfolk Environmental Credits Ltd (Norfolk councils)Council-backed company that buys or creates nutrient mitigation (wetlands, land-use change) and sells credits to developers; landowners can put forward sites.
Checked against the official pages on 29 October 2026. Sources: 1, 2. Always read the official page before you apply.