HL Deb 18 September 2003 vol 652 cc197-8WA
Baroness Byford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Which watercourses have had restrictions relaxed following successes in the brown rot eradication campaign; and which section of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been responsible for this. [HL4396]

Lord Whitty

Potato brown rot is a serious disease of potatoes listed in the Plant Health Directive (2000/29/ EC). A Control Directive (98/57/EC) is also in place, requiring member states to carry out surveys and take specific measures in the event of an outbreak. Potato brown rot is not established in the UK, but the organism which causes the disease has been detected in some watercourses, resulting in irrigation and spraying prohibitions for some potato and tomato growers. The organism persists in water through woody nightshade, another host plant, with roots in contaminated watercourses.

Defra (then MAFF) instigated a programme in 1998 to establish whether the removal of woody nightshade from the banks of selected watercourses would result in the elimination of the organism. This work is being co-ordinated by the Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate with input from a number of government and industry organisations. Decisions about the introduction and removal of restrictions are taken by Plant Health Division, following an annual stakeholder meeting at which the plans and results for the monitoring and woody nightshade programmes are discussed.

In 2002, following two years of negative results, including testing at increased sensitivity in the second year, it was established that the organism had been eliminated from two watercourses associated with the River Nene (the Willowbrook and Isle) and part of the Nene itself, as well as the Hogwell Sewer in Kent. As a result, irrigation and spraying restrictions were lifted from these watercourses in March 2003. Defra's monitoring and woody nightshade removal programme is continuing in 2003 and details of plans and progress, as well as information about watercourses currently under restriction, are available on Defra's website at http://defra/planth/brownrot.htm