A major breakthrough to end the house-building deadlock in east Kent has been reached which could help see thousands of delayed homes built.

The first boss of Stour Environmental Credits Ltd (SEC) has been appointed, meaning the company - a joint venture company between Ashford Borough Council and Canterbury City Council - is set to begin trading nutrient mitigation credits to developers this year.

Mariam Bajulaiye has been confirmed as the managing director of SEC, signalling a key moment in the saga to resolve the crisis.

Ms Bajulaiye, who has 17 years of experience in the waste management sector, will lead SEC’s work to secure and sell nutrient credits to developers.

It means housebuilders will be given a long-awaited route to unlock schemes blocked by the Stodmarsh issue.

Since Natural England’s advice in 2020 that new housing developments in the River Stour catchment must prove to be nutrient neutral, councils have seen Local Plan housing targets collapse and critical projects grind to a halt.

The warning followed concerns that nitrates and phosphates were damaging water quality in the protected Stodmarsh nature reserve, near Canterbury.

In Ashford, the long-planned 725-home "Large Burton" development was stalled until developers were forced to come up with their own mitigation scheme.

High-profile regeneration plans in Canterbury city centre, such as the transformation of the former Debenhams and Nasons stores, also remain in limbo.

Meanwhile, the 4,000-home Mountfield Park scheme has bypassed the Stodmarsh issues by plans proposing to build a wastewater reserve treatment, which will filter water to a higher quality than other facilities within the district.

Housebuilders will work with SEC to secure enough credits depending on the extent of mitigation works required to offset wastewater run-off harming the nature reserve and throughout the River Stour catchment zone.

Developers must first confirm whether their project requires nutrient neutrality. This typically applies to developments that provide overnight accommodation, such as new housing, located within the Stour catchment or those discharging foul water into it.

Once developers have purchased credits, SEC will commission third-party mitigation providers to implement particular environmental projects that reduce or capture nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, rather than developers directly funding and carrying out the work themselves.

This could include projects such as land-use changes and septic tank upgrades, or new wetlands.

The number of credits required to be purchased by developers and the amount they will cost will depend on the type of scheme required, as determined by a calculator provided for the Stodmarsh issue by Natural England.

This tool assesses the potential nutrient output of a proposed development, considering factors like the number of dwellings, occupancy rates, and wastewater treatment processes.

Each nutrient credit corresponds to the removal or offset of 1kg of nitrogen or phosphorus caused by the development.

Developers must include a nutrient neutrality mitigation plan as part of their planning application, which should detail the credits purchased and a scheme compliant with housing regulations.

The local planning authority - either CCC and ABC - can then assess this plan to ensure that the development will not adversely affect the protected Stodmarsh Nature Reserve, so it can grant planning permission and then monitor whether developments continue to comply with those nutrient neutrality requirements.

Speaking on her appointment, Ms Bajulaiye said: “We look forward to working with mitigation providers and housing developers to enable thousands of much-needed new homes to be delivered across the River Stour catchment area.

“SEC is a not-for-profit company, whose aim is to buy the benefit of a range of nutrient mitigation to sell on as credits to developers, to unlock the development of homes delayed due to concerns over the water quality in the Stour and at the Stodmarsh nature reserve downstream near Canterbury.

“I’m working at pace with the SEC board to finalise our action plan and we look forward to announcing more details of this very soon.”

Last year, a report to Ashford Borough Council’s Cabinet warned: “Protecting the natural environment in our rivers remains a priority, however the nutrient neutrality constraints that have been placed on the council present a huge barrier to growth and our ability to address some of the wider social and economic challenges. A solution needs to be found swiftly.”

SEC is backed and funded by part of the £9.8 million in Government Local Nutrient Mitigation funding administered by Kent County Council.

The first tranche of credits is expected to go on sale later this year.