The hour-long session was designed to provide a thorough briefing and an opportunity to ask questions.
NFU environment specialists were joined by experts from Hafren Water & Associates who gave a technical rundown. Along with our members, we have worked closely with Hafren in past rounds of NVZ appeals and enjoyed a good degree of success.
Latest information on the appeals process
Every four years, Defra reviews the spatial coverage of NVZs, notifies farmers within the designations, and provides 28 days for those affected to appeal.
The latest review has been considerably delayed, with little information made available to the NFU, but the first batch of notification letters was sent by Defra to farmers and growers in the Thames and South East River Basin districts in late October.
Read more about the appeals process, along with the expected timetable for notification letters to be issued to farmers and growers in other river basins and advice on how we can support you if you want to appeal your designation.
Meet the speakers:
Sarah Belton
Founder and Director of Nutrient Neutral
In her new company Sarah's work is focused on nitrogen and phosphorus sensitive areas, working with LPA's, developers, utility companies and landowners to assess potential impacts and, where required, develops innovative schemes and mitigation solutions. She is also working with a number of local landowners and farmers on long-term water security and environmental improvement projects at field and catchment scales.
Regina Owusu
Legal Assistance Scheme Manager
Regina also has overall responsibility for the NFU’s 16 Legal Panel Firms in England and Wales.
Regina is passionate about helping members resolve their legal disputes, especially those who may find themselves in the "David and Goliath" situations when they are up against large companies and government agencies.
Diane Mitchell
NFU chief environment adviser
Diane has led on the NFU’s policy work feeding into the Environment Act 2021 and more recently other areas such as nutrient neutrality and water quality. She also provides the secretariat to the NFU’s Environment Forum, which works with members, other NFU commodity boards, government, government agencies and other stakeholders to ensure farmers’ views on the environment are at the forefront of policy making.
Alongside her responsibilities at the NFU, Diane was the Vice-Chair of the Environment Working Group at COPA-COGECA, which is the trade body for farmers and agri-cooperatives at an EU level, for six years until 2020.
Before joining the NFU, Diane was a researcher at Cambridge University Farm and she has a BSc and PhD from the University of Aberdeen, both in soil science.