The Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations give further effect to Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources and Council Directive 2003/35/EC on public participation in respect of the drawing up of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment. They revoke and replace The Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999, The Protection of Water Against Agricultural Nitrate Pollution Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003, and The Protection of Water Against Agricultural Nitrate Pollution (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005.

Regulation 2 establishes and introduces an action programme that is applicable to all farmers across Northern Ireland.

Regulation 4 imposes an obligation on the controller of a holding to prevent water pollution.

Regulation 5 imposes obligations on the owner and/or controller of a holding to comply with these Regulations and in doing so to have regard to any guidance issued by the Department of the Environment and/or the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Code of Good Agricultural Practice issued by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Regulation 6 establishes closed periods for the land application of chemical fertiliser to grassland and non grassland crops and closed periods for the land application of organic manure, excluding farmyard manure and dirty water.

Regulations 7 and 8 establish the manner of application and spreading of nitrogen fertiliser (including dirty water) including the minimum distances from waterways, the weight and volume of solid organic manure and slurry that may be applied and the period of time to be left between applications.

Regulations 9 and 10 limit the land application of nitrogen fertiliser to 170kg N/ha/year and set limits for the amount of chemical fertiliser and organic manures that may be applied in relation to crop requirement for grass and other crops. These limits are currently calculated by using the values set out in DEFRA’s Fertiliser Recommendations for Agricultural and Horticultural Crops (RB209) 2000 7^th Edition, Schedule 1 of these Regulations and the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003. Regulations 9 and 10 also allow for a scientific case to be presented to deviate from the values set in Schedule 1 Tables 1, 2 or 3 to the Regulations in respect of nitrogen excretion values, total nitrogen content of slurry, dirty water and solid organic manures.

Regulations 11 to 14 detail the requirements for the provision of livestock manure storage and establish the type of storage, how the different manures are to be stored, the location of the storage and the duration of storage, including the minimum duration required. Regulation 15 sets out how to store dirty water.

Regulation 16 advises how to calculate storage capacity and on farm practices, including out-wintering of livestock (other than dairy cows), that may be taken into account when calculating such capacity.

Regulations 17 and 18 prescribe soil cover and detail crop management in order to minimise soil erosion and nutrient run-off.

Regulation 19 imposes an obligation on the controller of a holding to keep detailed records sufficient to ascertain the identity of the controller of the holding for the calendar year, the total agricultural area of the holding, the crop regime for individual areas within the holding, the number of livestock on the holding, the livestock manure storage capacity and storage arrangements of the holding and the quantity of nitrogen fertiliser moved on and off the holding. These records must be ready for inspection and held for 5 years. Regulation 20 prescribes that these records must be accurate and not misleading.

Regulation 21 establishes the Department of the Environment as the enforcement authority and its authority to carry out these functions in accordance with the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997.

Regulation 22 prescribes how the Department of the Environment may serve a notice if a controller of a holding is in breach of the Regulations and the requirements to be met when the notice is served.

Regulation 23 creates a right of appeal to the Water Appeals Commission against any notice issued under regulation 22. It also provides the procedures for an appeal against a refusal for a deviation under regulations 9 and 10.

Regulations 24 and 25 set out offences and defences for failing to comply with the Regulations and their corresponding penalties.

Regulation 26 establishes the duty on the Departments to submit a report to the European Commission in accordance with Article 10 of the Nitrates Directive within 6 months of the end of the reporting cycle which ends on 31 December 2007 and every four years thereafter.

Regulation 27 imposes a duty on the Departments to review the action programme, through a consultative process, every four years.

Regulation 28 creates an exemption from the requirement to comply with the closed periods where the required storage capacity for livestock manure is not in place from the operational date of these Regulations until the storage is in place or 31 December 2008 at the latest. In the case of poultry litter this regulation limits the storage in a field until 31 December 2008. It also deems notices served under regulation 4 of The Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 to be notices under these Regulations from 1 January 2007.

Regulation 29 makes consequential amendments to The Control of Pollution (Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 and The Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 to maintain consistency with these Regulations.

Regulation 30 provides for the revocation of a number of statutory provisions consequent upon the coming into operation of these Regulations.

Copies of the Code of Good Agricultural Practice for the Prevention of Pollution of Water, Air and Soil, referred to in regulation 5, may be obtained from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s website: http://www.dardni.gov.uk

Copies of the Fertiliser Recommendations for Agricultural and Horticultural Crops (RB209) may be obtained from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs website: http://www.defra.gov.uk

Copies of Council Directive 91/676/EEC may be obtained from the Stationery Office, 16 Arthur Street, Belfast, BT1 4GD.