Revised rules announced recently are especially relevant to livestock farmers. Almost a year has passed since the "new" NVZ Regulations were introduced. While these have a long lead-in period, there are deadlines between now and April 2012 by which time farmers must have carried out certain actions. The next major deadline is April 2010. By this time, all owners or occupiers of land in an NVZ must have completed slurry storage calculations and calculated the limits on organic and manufactured nitrogen applications.
A major requirement is to have enough storage available to accommodate livestock numbers, taking account of the storage periods and seasonal restrictions on spreading on land. While there is likely to be further grant funding for small items of capital expenditure within Catchment Sensitive Farming areas, there is otherwise no grant funding available for investment in infrastructure. This emphasises the need to plan future investment carefully in advance and, as importantly, the practical design issues. New storage facilities will require full planning permission in the majority of cases and compliance with the SSAFO regulations.
We have been closely involved in giving advice to clients on the implementation of the NVZ Regulations. This includes the preparation of Spreading Risk maps, completing annual nitrogen calculations and record keeping, calculation of slurry storage volume requirements and advising on the planning and construction of slurry stores, lagoons and livestock housing. Through fully understanding the regulations it can be possible to reduce storage requirements, thereby reducing a potentially significant cost.
Patrick Woodford
pwoodford@symondsandsampson.co.uk