Introduction

Herefordshire Council is now able to offer an Environmental Advice Service (EAS) as part of a paid service offered by the Built and Natural Environment Service. The Environment Advice Service can assist developers with bringing forward private mitigation schemes to offset the nutrient budget of development proposals.

Projects which may benefit from the advice of the EAS include:

  • Phosphate mitigation projects
    • Integrated wetlands
    • Agricultural land use and practice changes
    • Foul water system upgrades
    • Phosphate banking
  • Projects aimed at managing and disposing of phosphate rich agricultural products
    • Anaerobic digestion particularly relating to digestion of poultry litter
    • Installation of chicken litter boilers for the purposes of heating poultry houses
    • Pyrolysis for the purposes of producing biochar

EAS and planning

The service is available for both projects which require planning permission and also for projects which do not require other consents. Our advice will focus around the environmental impacts of the project. Where planning permission is required, our Environmental advice service sits separate to the planning process and it may therefore be appropriate to also seek pre-application advice from the Council relating to the acceptability of the proposal in planning terms.  View the planning pre-application advice webpage. We are of course able to share our advice with the planning team as required.

EAS and the Statutory Agencies

Some projects which seek advice through the EAS may also benefit from advice from Natural England (NE) (through their Discretionary Advice Service), from Environment Agency (EA) (through their Preliminary Opinion Enquiry process) or from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) (through their Preliminary Opinion service).

Where you feel your project may benefit from advice from either NE, EA or NRW the EAS is happy to co-ordinate that advice for you and to incorporate the fees and timescales for those processes into our service.

Information held about you

In order to provide this Environmental Advice Service to you, it is necessary for us to collect and hold personal information about you. This information will include:

  • Basic details about you such as address, telephone number, email address
Who is processing your data

All personal data held, is processed in accordance with data protection law. The Data Controller for the information outlined in this privacy notice is Herefordshire Council.

 

How we will use the information we hold about you

We will collect information about you to:

  •  Provide an Environmental Advice Service
How the law allows us to use your information

The legal basis for processing the data is:

  • Your consent, which you can withdraw at any time by notifying us
Who we will share your information with

We may share your information with partner organisations, including:

  • Natural England / Environment Agency if requested by the owner of the data
How long we keep your personal information

We will only keep your information for the minimum period necessary.

The information outlined in this privacy notice will be kept for the duration of the Environmental Advice Service request. All information will be held securely and destroyed under confidential conditions.

Your rights

You have a number of rights under data protection law, including the right to request your information and to request that the information be amended or erased if incorrect.

To request your records, you will need to put your request in writing and provide proof of identification to the Information Governance Team, Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane, Hereford HR4 0LE or via email, informationgovernance@herefordshire.gov.uk

You also have a right to make a complaint about our handling of your personal data to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Providing accurate information
It is important that we hold accurate and up to date information about you to assess your needs and deliver the appropriate services. If any of your details have changed, or change in the future, please tell us so that we can update your records.
Further information

If you have any questions or concerns about how your information is used, please contact the Built and Natural Environment Service at naturalenvironment@herefordshire.gov.uk​​​​​​​ in the first instance.

You can also contact the Data Protection Officer, at:

More information about data protection and how it applies to you can be found on the Information Commissioner’s Office website.

Service web page

Environmental Advice Service