In recent weeks and months, we have seen a rise in the number of farm inspections by the Environment Agency, particularly in targeted areas.  As an office, we have recently been successful in working with our clients and Hafren Water to appeal against NVZ designations and have had most of our appeals awarded.  Interestingly, the EA have been targeting areas for inspection which were designated for new NVZ designation, even though some of these have now been appealed.

Environment Agency inspectors have been particularly interested in exempt structures, such as silage clamps or stores which are not fit for purpose and are causing pollution and we have worked with the officers to put together plans to bring these up to SSAFO standard.  Just because a structure is constructed pre-1991 and is exempt from the SSAFO standards doesn’t mean the Environment Agency can’t target it, if it is causing pollution, or is likely to cause pollution.

The officers have also been interested in the location and design of drainage schemes within farms, especially separation of clean and foul water.

The first step to any inspection is to ensure you have detailed and accurate records and plans, and those clients with whom we work on a regular basis, have had these to be able to present to the inspector.

In the main, we have been able to put together cost-effective plans to deal with the issues, such as building new dirty water stores, construction of slurry stores and reworking of silage clamp effluent drainage.  In the long term, these are all beneficial to the farm, as the increased nutrient retention adds value and makes day to day management of slurry and silage effluent easier.

If you would like more information, please contact your local FCG office about compliance, inspections and management plans.