Nutrient essentials: Can planning balance the need for new housing with the need to keep watercourses clean and healthy?

This is a story about how the fortunes of a tiny mollusc can cause widespread chaos.Anisus vorticulus, the little whirlpool ramshorn snail, is 5mm in diameter, thrives in unpolluted marsh water and loves ditches.But the aquatic snail’s catastrophic decline prompted a conservation watchdog to publish urgent advice. This triggered alarm across local authorities, the development industry and the........