Mr. Gareth R. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the amount of environmental damage likely to occur in areas which would be excluded from nitrate vulnerable zones under Option 2 of the consultation paper on implementing the Nitrates Directive. [56431]
§ Mr. MeacherAreas of England would be excluded from the discrete NVZ area under the Option 2 approach because they drain into waters for which monitoring data do not exceed the specific criteria laid down in the Nitrates Directive.
However, we recognised the potential wider environmental effects of manure spreading in these areas in the partial Regulatory Impact Assessment annexed to our recent consultation paper 'How should England implement the 1991 Nitrates Directive?'.
We are currently considering all responses received to the consultation before announcing a decision in due course on which implementation option will be pursued in England.
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