Farmers urged to ‘think before you act’ after regulations change

10:05am Thursday 23rd August 2007

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Two recent changes to regulations have prompted FWAG to urge farmers in the county to think carefully before they act.

Firstly is the news that there will likely be 0% set-aside in 2008. But, as Herefordshire FWAG adviser Mike Williams pointed out, this does not mean set aside areas have to be ploughed up.

"Some set-aside land is of high environmental value," he said. "Of particular importance are strips alongside ditches and watercourses - protecting water quality by keeping sprays and fertilisers back and by capturing soil and water run-off."

He added that set-aside strips make compliance with LERAPs rules much easier and paperwork less complicated. Set-aside areas also play a part in soil protection, by taking out steep areas, for example.

He warned of ploughing out such areas and risking cross-compliance breaches.

"FWAG is recommending that farmers retain set-aside strips where possible," he added. "Economics may mean that wider strips of ten or 20 metres may have to be reduced, but we recommend leaving them at least six metres wide."

He suggested that farmers not yet in the Entry Level Scheme could put these margins into their application. FWAG can help farmers evaluate set-aside, look at compliance issues, best environmental benefit and decide what areas of set-aside to keep.

The second regulatory change is the amending of the habitats regulations.

In the past, the law has safeguarded European Protected Species from action to deliberately kill, injure, disturb or capture protected species, or damage or destroy their breeding or resting place.

The law allowed defence through "incidental result" but now, it will no longer be possible to avoid liability on the basis that what happened was an accident.

Janet Lomas, FWAG adviser, points out that this has implications in particular for farmers, for hedge work (dormouse or bats), pond restoration, (great crested newts), tree surgery and farm building repair (bats).

"There is now a need to assess the risk of committing an offence before commencing with this type of work," she said.

"Very often, conflict with the regulations can be avoided by timeliness of work and by documenting evidence of the decision-making process used to establish the presence or absence of protected species.

"Otherwise, a licence to carry out the work will be required from Natural England."

FWAG advisers can help to assess the risks, calculate the best timings for work and supply documented evidence.

For more details, call FWAG on 01684 578857.