Buffer strips along water courses27

1

No person may spread manufactured nitrogen fertiliser within 2 metres of the surface of a water course.

2

No person may spread organic manure within 10 metres of the surface of a water course.

3

But livestock manure (other than slurry and poultry manure) may be spread there if—

a

it is spread on land managed for breeding wader birds or as a species-rich semi-natural grassland and the land is—

i

notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 19814; or

ii

subject to an agri-environment commitment entered into under Council Regulation (EC) No. 1257/1999 (on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF)) 5 or under Council Regulation (EC) No. 1698/2005 (on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) 6;

b

it is spread between 1 June and 31 October inclusive;

c

it is not spread directly on to surface of a water course; and

d

the total annual amount does not exceed 12.5 tonnes per hectare.

4

No person may spread organic manure within 50 metres of a borehole, spring or well.

5

For purposes of this paragraph—

• “livestock” means cattle, chickens, deer, ducks, goats, horses, pigs, sheep, ostriches and turkeys;

• “manufactured nitrogen fertiliser” means any nitrogen fertiliser (other than organic manure) manufactured by an industrial process;

• “nitrogen fertiliser” means any substance containing one or more nitrogen compounds used on land to enhance growth of vegetation and includes organic manure;

• “organic manure” means any nitrogen fertiliser or phosphate fertiliser derived from animal, plant or human sources and includes livestock manure;

• “phosphate fertiliser” means any substance containing one or more phosphorus compounds used on land to enhance growth of vegetation and includes organic manure;

• “poultry” means chickens, ducks, ostriches and turkeys;

• “slurry” means excreta produced by livestock (other than poultry) while in a yard or building (including any bedding, rainwater or washings mixed with it) that has a consistency that allows it to be pumped or discharged by gravity (in the case of excreta separated into its liquid and solid fractions, the slurry is the liquid fraction);

• “spread” includes the application to the surface of the land, injection into the land or mixing with the surface layers of the land but does not include the direct deposit of excreta on to land by animals;

• “water course” includes coastal waters, estuaries, canals, lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and ditches which contain free flowing water and also temporarily dry ditches and blind ditches.