HC Deb 28 February 2002 vol 380 cc1504-5W
Mrs. Ann Winterton

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the annual cost to individual farmers of the proposed implementation of the 1991 Nitrate Vulnerable Zones Directive; and what system of monitoring her Department proposes to establish for policing the use of nitrogen in nitrate vulnerable zones. [35879]

Mr. Meacher

The annual cost of complying with the record keeping requirements of the Nitrates Directive is estimated at an average of £200 per farm. Where farmers need to take further action to comply with the Directive, the total costs of such additional action is estimated as up to £12.5m per annum across England in total. However, these extra costs would not be meaningful expressed as an average per farmer because they will vary considerably between individual farms depending on their individual circumstances.

It is intended to extend the Farm Waste Grant Scheme to the new areas where farmers will be required to take action to tackle nitrate pollution. This will make financial assistance available to those farmers who face the greatest costs, for example because they need to construct new slurry storage to comply with closed periods for spreading manure on vulnerable soils. The grant rate is currently 40 per cent (the EU State Aid Rules maximum) for construction or upgrade of storage facilities up to an investment ceiling of £85,000. We are currently considering offering 50 per cent in Less Favoured Areas, as permitted by the EU State Aid Rules. From experience in current NVZs, the average cost of new slurry storage construction to comply with Action Programme measures is between £30,000 and £40,000.

The Environment Agency will be responsible for enforcing compliance in the new areas where farmers are required to take action to reduce nitrate pollution, as well as in existing Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. The Agency propose to develop a risk based approach to enforcement, for instance by relating the frequency and nature of inspection to the risk of pollution.