The Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010

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 Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, the Nitrates Action Programme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 and the Nitrates Action Programme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009.

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 controller of a holding in complying with these Regulations to have regard to any guidance issued by the Department of the Environment or jointly by the Department of the Environment and 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 dirty water.

Regulation 7 establishes 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 8 and 9 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 Manual (RB209) 8th Edition, the Schedule of these Regulations and the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003. Regulations 8 and 9 also allow for a scientific case to be presented to deviate from the values set in Tables 1, 2 or 3 of Part 1 of the Schedule to the Regulations in respect of nitrogen excretion values, total nitrogen content of slurry, dirty water and solid organic manures.

Regulation 10 prescribes the requirements to be complied with for grassland holdings with an approved derogation from the measures governing the limits on land application of livestock manure, in accordance with Commission Decision 2007/863/EC.

Regulation 11 establishes general obligations for the storage of livestock manure and silage effluent, including capacities and standards for storage facilities and the requirement to maintain and manage these facilities to prevent water pollution.

Regulation 12 further details the livestock manure storage capacity required for different types of enterprises.

Regulations 13 to 15 prescribe how farmyard manure, poultry litter and dirty water are to be stored.

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 details further crop management practices for grassland holdings with an approved derogation.

Regulation 20 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 21 prescribes that these records must be accurate and not misleading.

Regulation 22 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 23 prescribes how the Department of the Environment may serve a notice if any appropriate person is in breach of the Regulations and the requirements to be met when the notice is served.

Regulation 24 creates a right of appeal to the Appeals Commission against any notice issued under regulation 23. It also provides the procedures for an appeal against a refusal for a deviation under regulations 8, 9 and 10.

Regulations 25 and 26 set out offences and defences for failing to comply with the Regulations and their corresponding penalties.

Regulation 27 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 2011 and every four years thereafter.

Regulation 28 imposes a duty on the Departments to review the action programme, through a consultative process, every four years.

Regulation 29 deems notices served under regulation 23 of the Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 to be notices under these Regulations from 1 January 2011 and records to be retained under regulation 19 of the Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 to be records to be retained under these Regulations from 1 January 2011.

Regulation 30 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 31 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 DEFRA Fertiliser Manual (RB209) 8th Edition 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 or the European Commission website: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-nitrates/index_en.html