Vulnerable Zones

Standard Note: SN/SC/4552 Last updated: 3 February 2009

Author: Christopher Barclay and Edward White Section Science and Environment Section

This note sets out how pressure from Europe required the Government to reassess its implementation of the 1991 Directive and reconsider how Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) are designated.

Contents

1 The 2007 UK Consultation 2

2 The Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations 2008 3 2.1 Appeals 4

3 The situation in other countries 4

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1 The 2007 UK Consultation The 2007 consultation on an action plan did not result from a new EU Directive. It stemmed from the 1991 Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC). The European Commission had put pressure on the UK Government to adopt more stringent policies in order to implement the 1991 Directive.

The Directive was agreed at the EU Environment Council in June 1991. David Trippier, then an Environment Minister, explained at the time:

The Council adopted a directive to protect water from nitrate pollution from agricultural sources. This important new measure should help to secure improvements in water quality throughout the Community. It strikes a fair balance between protecting the environment and maintaining an efficient agriculture. Up to 2 million hectares of the may be designated as nitrate vulnerable zones under this directive, although we will only know the precise areas once the National Rivers Authority and the Government have completed the necessary monitoring and other studies. Within those zones farms will be required to comply with good agricultural practice, for example through controls on the timing and quantity of fertiliser and manure application. Member states will take additional measures where necessary to achieve the directive’s objectives, taking account of their cost and effectiveness.1

ENDS explained how the 2007 consultation derived from the Directive:

DEFRA has issued three consultation documents on the control of pollution from farming in England. The documents are part of efforts to implement the water framework Directive and address the threat of legal action over implementation of EU nitrate rules…DEFRA has long been under pressure from the European Commission over UK implementation of the Directive. It received a final warning of impending prosecution in 2003 but successfully put off the inevitable tightening of the rules until now.2

Defra’s 2007 Consultation Paper describes how the UK had steadily had to back down on its original implementation strategy:

1.23 66 NVZs, covering 8% of England, were originally designated in 1996 for the protection of drinking water sources. An Action Programme of measures has been implemented within these NVZs since December 1998.

1.24 In December 2000, the European Court of Justice ruled that the UK had failed to properly implement the Directive because we had only designated NVZs for the protection of drinking water sources, rather than for all surface and ground waters. As a result of this ruling, a further 47% of England was designated as an NVZ in October 2002. The same Action Programme of measures that applied in the original NVZs entered into force within these additional NVZs in December 2002.

1.25 The Nitrates Directive requires that Member States submit a report to the European Commission every four years on the state of implementation of the Directive within their country. The Commission's overall analysis, as set out in a recently published report, is that “significant progress is now being made in the implementation of the Nitrates Directive, but that considerable further work in improving designations of

1 HC Deb 18 June 1991 cc1424-3 2 “Consultation on nitrates, diffuse farm pollution”, ENDS Report 392, September 2007 pp44-5

2 NVZs and the quality of action programmes is required in order to fully achieve the objectives of the Directive with regard to water quality.” The report also highlighted that nitrate concentrations in waters in the UK are amongst the highest in Europe.

1.26 Reviews of the extent of the NVZs and the effectiveness of the Action Programme are required by the Nitrates Directive every four years. The outcomes of both reviews should be used to make appropriate amendments (i.e. designate additional NVZs, and/or introduce reinforced or additional Action Programme measures).

1.27 The Department has just completed its reviews of NVZs and the Action Programme. The broad outcomes of these two reviews are as follows:

• Nitrate pollution has increased in some areas of England therefore additional designations of NVZs are proposed

• The current Action Programme has not had a significant impact on nitrate pollution therefore reinforced and additional measures are proposed.

1.28 The proposals discussed within this consultation document are a result of these reviews, and are intended to ensure that we are continuing to take appropriate and effective action to tackle pollution caused by nitrogen and improve the quality of our waters.3

Defra/MAFF and the NFU have been aware of the issues relating to the Nitrates Directive. When the UK signed up to the Directive, the Government believed that it would be acceptable to have only a few NVZs. The priority was considered to be drinking water. At that time, the UK Government favoured incentives to control nitrates from farming. In Nitrate Sensitive Areas farmers received subsidies if they chose to adopt measures to reduce nitrate outflow. However, that approach would be far too expensive to operate on a large scale. Increasingly the Common Agricultural Policy has moved towards requiring compliance with environmental objectives as a condition for receiving grants. Admittedly some extra money is available under Higher Level Environmental Stewardship, but that money comes from modulation. In other words, the overall level of farm subsidies is reduced by a certain percentage in order to finance the environmental schemes.

2 The Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations 2008 Following the 2007 consultation regulations were laid before Parliament in September 2008 and came into force on 1 January 2009.

The Regulations;

• Extend the areas designated as NVZs

• Reduce the permitted annual level of nitrate application of livestock manure to grassland in a nitrate vulnerable zone from 250 kg/ha to 170 kg/ha (previously the lower limit applied to land other than grassland).

• Change the period during which organic manure in a NVZ may not be spread and increase the amount of organic manure storage capacity required.

3 Defra, The Protection of Waters Against Pollution from Agriculture Consultation on implementation of the Nitrates Directive in England, August 2007

3 This means from 1 January 2009, the areas covered by NVZs increased to approximately 70% of England from 55 per cent originally designated in 2002.

A methodology used to identify NVZs in England was developed from the designation criteria established in the Nitrates Directive. The Environment Agency led on designation. A detailed methodology of the process is provided by Defra:

• Summary of the methodology used to identify NVZs in England (2008)

Maps highlighting designated areas are provided on MAGIC the Government’s GIS information website:

• Summary map of NVZs in England

• Interactive maps of NVZs on MAGIC website

• Guidance using the MAGIC website

2.1 Appeals The Regulations provided for appeals to be made against a decision to designate NVZs. Appeals will be determined by an independent Appeals Panel using submitted evidence. Appeals can only be made by the owner or occupier of the land in question and can be made if there is evidence to demonstrate that:

• the land does not drain into water identified as nitrate-polluted, and/or • the water to which the land drains should not have been identified as polluted.

Guidance was made available

• Guidance for making an appeal in relation to land designated as an NVZ

The closing date for submitting an appeal was 31 January 2009. Supporting evidence may be submitted until 10 March 2009, providing an appeal was submitted by 31 January 2009.

3 The situation in other countries Article 10 of the Nitrates Directive requires that Member States submit a report to the Commission every four years following its notification. This report should include information pertaining to codes of good farm practice, designated NVZs, results of water monitoring and a summary of relevant aspects of actions programmes for vulnerable zones.

The most recent report appeared in March 2007. It contains material relating to different aspects of nitrate pollution of water, including the following table on NVZs:

DESIGNATION OF NITRATE VULNERABLE ZONES

Member States are required to review, and if necessary revise, nitrate vulnerable zones at least every four years on the basis of the results of water monitoring according to article 6 of the Nitrates Directive. The first designations should have been completed by December 1993 with revisions thereafter every four years.

In the period 2000-2003 further progress has been made in nitrate vulnerable zone designation. Seven out of fifteen Member States took the option in the Nitrates Directive not to identify specific nitrate vulnerable zones, but to establish and apply an

4 action programme through the whole territory. In addition to Austria, , Finland, , Luxemburg and the , Ireland established a whole territory approach in March 2003.

Other Member States increased, in several cases substantially, the nitrate vulnerable zones since 1999: United Kingdom (from 2,4% to 32,8% of the territory), Spain (from 5% to 11%), Italy (from 2% to 6%), Sweden (from 9% to 15%), (from 5,8% to 24%). Motivation for increased designation was not always provided. In the majority of cases it was based on nitrate pollution (i.e. in Southern Europe Member States) and surface water nitrate pollution (criteria A2 and A1 of Annex 1 of the Nitrates Directive); to a lesser extent it was based on (for instance Sweden and Seine-Normandy in France).

Overall, in EU 15, designation of nitrate vulnerable zones increased from 35,5% of the territory at the end of 1999 to 44% at the end of 2003 (Table 1 and Map 14). From 2003 onwards further designations were made, in Italy, Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom, Northern Ireland (Map 15). Belgium has established the procedure to increase its designation to include 42% of Wallonia territory and all Flanders.

However, based on review of available information on nitrogen pressure and water quality, in particular, with regard to eutrophication and shallow groundwater there are still some gaps in designation. Work is necessary to eliminate these gaps.4

The whole issue is very complex. Geographical features and agricultural practices vary so much between different countries that very different policies may be necessary to achieve the same standards of water purity.

4 Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, On implementation of Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources for the period 2000-2003, 7636/07, March 2007

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