MEMORANDUM SUBMITTED BY GORDON HIGGINS,
BITTESWELL FARMS (V28)
I understand that your Committee is holding
an inquiry into the proposed legislation. We are a small farm
business in Leicestershire engaged primarily in egg production
and as such receive no grants or financial assistance of any kind
from the CAP or the UK Government.
From the data that I have been given, the cost
of the proposed legislation on our family farm business will be
as follows:
IPPC due in 2003
(a) Initial permit to farm is quoted as £12,000
to £18,000.
(b) Annual fee for renewal £5,500-£8,250.
(c) the cost to meet monitoring equipment,
training and modifications to systems is unknown but will certainly
run into thousands of pounds.
Climate Change Levy due April 2001
(a) Electricity—we calculate a levy
of £3,225 based on a tax of 0.43 pence per Kilowatt per hour.
(b) LPG—we calculate a levy of £563
based on a tax of 0.15 pence per Kilowatt per hour equivalent.
From the above it is clear that to meet the
requirements of IPPC and CCL there will be an initial start up
cost of somewhere near £20,000 and an annual fee of between
£9,000 and £12,000.
This will be a crippling financial burden on
our farm business. It would appear that we are being deliberately
singled out. IPPC only applies to pig and poultry farms, as the
remainder of agriculture both livestock and growing sections are
being ignored. The CCL is equally selective in that only agriculture
and industry is being targeted, as domestic and transport users
for instance, are not included.
Industry in general, but particularly agriculture
is already under strain due mainly to the strength of sterling
and animal welfare and environmental legislation: legislation
which is vigorously applied in the UK and which contributes to
our uncompetitiveness in the EU and indeed worldwide.
I appreciate that environmental pollution leading
to global warming and climate change is a very very serious matter
but it is a global problem. One only has to visit China and the
USA to appreciate the extent of the problem. In parts of China,
which mines one third of the world's coal, ten tonnes of coal
dust per square kilometre falls in a year. Nine thousand cubic
kilometres of waste gasses are expelled into the atmosphere per
year resulting in acid rain and hazes reducing crop yields by
30 per cent across one third of the country. In Shenyang for instance,
Pollution is eight times higher than WHO limits. Beijing had 100
days of filthy air in 1999.
China is increasing the production of dangerous
chemicals faster than we can phase them out. Nine tenths of the
worlds Haylons production is in China—most of which they
waste. Between 1995-97 they tripled the use of Methyl Bromide
(used in pesticides) and they are expanding plants rapidly to
3,000 tonnes per year—10 per cent of world use. Developing
countries in general have doubled the use of Methyl Bromide in
recent years, and for what, to enable export of crops to EU supermarkets.
Phasing out HCFLs which are supposed to replace CFCs is now pushed
back to 2040.
The US is almost as guilty with more aircraft
polluting the upper atmosphere at any one time than the rest of
the world put together. They make little attempt to curb the use
of fossil fuel with gas at less than a dollar a gallon. A recent
report listed many power stations emitting smoke gasses in excess
of the laid down limits.
And how do they tackle the problem? They attend
international meetings on climate change in Kyoto and Beijing
and put all their effort into "emission trading" with
third world countries which is an immoral attempt to allow them
to go on gas guzzeling.
We in the UK already contribute to emission
reduction through having the highest fuel tax in the world. If
our Government, and indeed the EU, is serious about environmental
pollution it would be prudent to heavily tax imports or even ban
imports from China and other global polluters and concentrate,
on using the tax collected, to clear up the polluting practices
world wide.
We are not against contributing our fair share
to reduce pollution but we do object to this selective approach
to the problem. All consumers of fossil fuel should be required
to contribute be they domestic or industrial. The amount of pollution
we generate on our farm is a spin off from food production which
is essential for the nation as a whole.
To selectively target pig and poultry farms
and industry in general is, in the long term, counter productive
in that it contributes to our uncompetiveness. If we can not compete
we close and watch our produce being imported from overseas often
from countries which pay little attention to environmental pollution.
From the above you will no doubt conclude that
I consider that our Government is doing us a great disservice.
Our politicians are not acting responsibly and effectively in
their approach to this very very serious world problem—in
short they are fiddling and tinkering while the world burns.
It is certain that our children and our childrens
children will pay a very high price in the end, for the "made
in China" bargains we enjoy today.
1 February 2000
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