1 INTRODUCTION
1. In a Westminster Hall debate on 8 January 2008,
the Minister for the Environment, Mr Phil Woolas MP, told the
House that he was receiving more letters on the Nitrates Directive
than on any other matter in his portfolio "including international
climate change".[1]
The implementation of the Nitrates Directive in England might
at first glance seem like a specialist subject, but its importance
to the 195,500 farmers who could be affected, and its wider significance
in terms of the water quality that we all enjoy, are considerable.[2]
2. With this in mind, the Committee decided to inquire
into the changes proposed by the Department for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs (Defra) in its consultation document of August
2007 on the Nitrates Directive. Defra's proposed changes reflect
the fact that the European Commission does not believe that the
Directive was properly implemented in the first place. The proposals
would have a significant impact on farmers in the affected zones,
requiring them to alter practices for storing and spreading livestock
manure and for applying chemical fertiliser. The financial outlay
would be considerable. Against this there is the necessity of
complying with the terms of the Directive and the understandable
desire to keep nitrate levels in surface and ground waters to
a safe level. Our terms of reference were framed to cover the
key issues raised by Defra's proposals.
3. On 18 December 2007, we issued an invitation to
submit written evidence. We received submissions from 16 organisations
and individuals, spanning both agricultural and environmental
interests. There were some points of contention between the different
submissions, but, interestingly, opinion was not always split
along agricultural and environmental lines, and, on the key issues,
it was usually possible to detect a majority view, if not a consensus.
On 5 March 2008, we held an oral evidence session with the National
Farmers' Union (NFU) and the Minister at which we were able to
explore in greater depth the points raised in the written evidence.
1 HC Deb, 8 January 2008, col 45WH Back
2
HC Deb, 17 December 2007, col 988W Back
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