Landowners in Norfolk are to be asked to offer sites to be turned into new wetlands and woodlands, to end a block on permission for thousands of new homes.
Councils in Norfolk have been unable to approve plans for new homes within the catchment areas of the River Wensum and Broads since March.
Government advisor Natural England said housing schemes could not be approved until they could prove they would not lead to more phosphates flowing into waterways.
Such nutrients reduce oxygen in the water and make it harder for aquatic species to survive.
The directive left councils trying to establish how developers can provide mitigation to ensure what is known as nutrient neutrality.
Affected councils across Norfolk have created a nutrient neutrality calculator, so developers can figure out how much pollution their schemes would produce - and what they would need to do to counter that.
And, from this month, Natural England will target landowners, including in Norfolk, asking if they will offer their land as potential sites for nutrient mitigation.
That could see their land turned into wetlands or woodlands, to capture the pollution from developments. That would help get housing schemes back on track by providing the mitigation needed.
Developers would be able to buy "credits" for such projects to mitigate their schemes, with priority to enable construction of the most homes most quickly, for small and medium developers and to support delivery of affordable and social housing.
The first projects are currently being negotiated with two partners in the Tees catchment, with investment in feasibility studies in five further catchments to determine the next mitigation sites.
Natural England would not be drawn on whether any of those feasibility studies are in Norfolk.
Council officers in Norfolk said they were not aware of any, but are working on their own credit mitigation scheme in the meantime, involving buying in to other solutions, such as water reduction schemes.
South West Norfolk MP Liz Truss, during the campaign which led to her brief stint as prime minister, had signalled she would scrap the nutrient neutrality requirement.
But Michael Gove, now reinstated as levelling-up, housing and communities secretary, has shown no appetite to do so.
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