The Solent Mitigation Partnership (SMP) is pleased to welcome Lucy Haynes to the team as its new Assistant Project Officer.

Lucy joins SMP from Southern Co‑operative, where she delivered nature recovery projects funded through customer product sales and played a key role in managing the organisation’s carbon footprint, including target setting and validation of its net zero commitments.

The SMP team has grown significantly in recent years, reflecting the increasing scale and ambition of its work across the Solent. From starting as a team of one in 2021, it has now expanded to a team of five, delivering innovative mitigation schemes and supporting local planning authorities to enable sustainable development.

Lucy brings valuable experience in environmental delivery and sustainability, alongside a strong personal connection to the region. Having grown up and currently living in the Solent area, she is passionate about protecting the natural environment and is keen to contribute to schemes that safeguard this internationally important landscape.

Commenting on her appointment, Lucy said: “I’m really excited to be joining the Solent Mitigation Partnership and to be part of a team delivering projects that make a real, measurable difference to the environment. The work SMP is doing to protect the Solent while enabling sustainable development is incredibly important, and I’m looking forward to contributing to that.”

The Solent Mitigation Partnership is a collaborative initiative formed by 16 local authorities working together to deliver high-quality environmental mitigation. The Partnership was established to address nutrient pollution in the Solent and its rivers, helping to protect internationally important habitats while unlocking much-needed new housing.

Through a strategic, partnership-led approach, the SMP develops projects that reduce nutrient impacts, generate mitigation credits, and reinvest funding into further environmental schemes—supporting both sustainable growth and long-term ecological recovery.

For more information about the Solent Mitigation Partnership and its work, visit:
Solent Mitigation Partnership website.