The Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

Manner of storage and location of poultry litter storage facilities

14.—(1) Subject to regulation 28 poultry litter may be stored in the field where land application will take place subject to a maximum limit of 180 days.

(2) Where poultry litter is stored in a midden it shall have adequate effluent collection facilities prior to field storage or land application.

(3) Where stored in a field, poultry litter must be stored in a compact heap but not in the same location of the field in consecutive years and must be covered with an impermeable membrane within 24 hours of placement in the fields.

(4) Poultry litter heaps must not be placed within:

(a) 50m of lakes; or

(b) 20m of any waterway, including open areas of water, open field drains or any drain which has been backfilled to the surface with permeable material such as stone/aggregate; or

(c) 50m around a borehole, spring or well; or

(d) 250m from any borehole used for a public water supply; or

(e) 50m of exposed cavernous or karstified limestone features (such as swallow-holes and collapse features).

(5) In this regulation, poultry litter means a mixture of bedding material and poultry manure arising from the housing of poultry and with a dry matter content not less than 55%.