Last year Defra and the Environment Agency published their designated areas for 2017-20. The boundaries of the English zones are reviewed every four years. Farmers whose land fell within an NVZ were allowed 28 days from designation to appeal the decision. In total there were 94 successful appeals made. The result of the appeals reduces the pre-appeals NVZ coverage of England from 58% to 55%. The coverage during the 2013-17 designation was 57%.
The NFU provided members with information on how to appeal their designation if they felt that their land did not drain into water identified as polluted, or if it drained into water that should not be identified as polluted. Hafren Water consultants then assessed the designation on the likelihood of a successful appeal. Those that looked like that they may be successful were put forward.
Check to see if the NVZ designation in your area has been removed
The NFU is advising members to check to see if the NVZ designation in their area has been appealed. If this is the case many of the NVZ rules will not apply to you, however, whether you are in or out of an NVZ, all farmers and land managers will need to follow the Farming Rules for Water, which were brought in on 2 April 2018.
Farmers are also required under cross compliance to manage manure, fertiliser and soil to prevent runoff, erosion and leaching.
There is also a new Code of Good Agricultural Practice for reducing ammonia emissions which provides advice for farmers to follow.