‘Flawed’ EU directive must be implemented

A new report published by a cross-party committee of MPs dismisses a European Union directive on nitrates as ‘flawed’, but concludes that farmers must comply with the legislation.

The Nitrates Directive was set up by the EU to reduce water pollution caused by nitrates used in farming.

MPs from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) committee investigating the 1991 directive found it to be ‘old fashioned’ and ‘prescriptive’.

However, because of pending legal action by the European Commission against the UK government, the committee’s report recommends that Defra should implement the directive despite its shortcomings.

The report states that the directive is unlikely to be changed in the near future, and that failure to comply would lead to heavy fines on UK taxpayers.

To ensure compliance with the legislation as many as 200,000 farmers will be forced to build larger storage spaces for slurry, as well as changing the way they spread livestock manure and chemical fertilisers.

As such, the report recommends that the Treasury gives farmers an enhanced tax allowance for storage construction.

President of the National Farmers Union, Peter Kendall, welcomed the committee’s findings, and reiterated the need of farmers for financial support from the government.