Managing Director takes the helm at Stour Environmental Credits Ltd
Stour Environmental Credits Ltd (SEC) has appointed Mariam Bajulaiye as its first Managing Director, as the Joint Venture company created by Ashford Borough Council and Canterbury City Council prepares to start trading in nutrient mitigation credits.
Mariam has joined Ashford-based SEC from her role as Principal Consultant at Resource Futures, where she managed a team of technical consultants to support UK councils on the implementation of new waste management policies, such as net zero strategies.
A Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, Mariam has more than 17 years’ experience of delivering waste and resource efficiency projects for the private sector, government agencies, local authorities, housing associations and social enterprises.
Expressing her “delight” at joining Stour Environmental Credits, Mariam 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.
“Stour Environmental Credits 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 via our website.”
SEC is gearing up to start trading in credits later this year. It went out to soft market testing in January and February 2025 to gauge the range of potential credit generating opportunities that are being developed by individuals and organisations. As a result, SEC is in discussions with the potential providers of land-use change based credits.
Following the considerable interest shown by companies looking to provide septic tank upgrades, SEC has advised them that we are moving into an open market tender. As the company is publicly owned, it is obliged to follow public procurement regulations.
SEC is liaising with potential mitigation providers on the technical and legal information required to be able to secure mitigation for credit provision, to satisfy Natural England, the Environment Agency, the local planning authorities and SEC itself, of the efficacy and longevity of the credits.
This will enable housing developers to have full confidence in the temporary and permanent credits provided for sale by the company.
SEC’s website is being developed to enable organisations to register their interest in nutrient neutrality mitigation online.
It is anticipated that a range of credits will become available later in 2025. We are working in collaboration with the local planning teams at Ashford Borough Council and Canterbury City Council on our timeline to market initial credits and the pipeline of credits that will be coming online. The plan is to make credits available in tranches.
If you have any specific queries please email admin@stourenvironmentalcredits.co.uk.
Finding solutions to the ‘Stodmarsh problem’
In July 2020, Natural England issued advice requiring new housing development in the River Stour catchment to demonstrate nutrient neutrality.
This followed concerns that high levels of phosphates and nitrates in the water were having harmful impacts on the Stodmarsh nature reserve further downstream.
The impact during the past five years has meant that councils, primarily in Ashford and Canterbury, and developers have not been able to build new homes within the River Stour catchment, which is having a negative impact on the Local Plan and new housing provision in the two districts.
SEC is tapping into some of the £9.8m of the Local Nutrient Mitigation Funding awarded to the catchment by Government. This funding is controlled by Kent County Council.
At the time SEC was founded, 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 that meets the local requirements without creating further uncertainty.”
Published: 23 May 2025