Bid to derail new water quality rules rejected

NFU WARNS OF LEGAL CHALLENGE OVER ‘COSTLY’ MEASURES IN WALES

NFU Cymru has said it will press ahead with a possible legal challenge after a bid to derail new agri-pollution rules was rejected by Senedd Members.

A Plaid Cymru motion to annul proposed all-Wales water quality regulations was narrowly defeated in a Plenary session of the Welsh Parliament.

Llŷr Gruffydd, Plaid Cymru’s shadow rural affairs minister, had urged the Welsh Government to pause the scheme’s introduction in light of NFU Cymru’s potential legal challenge.

The union’s lawyers, JCP Solicitors, wrote to rural affairs minister Lesley Griffiths on Tuesday setting out their concerns about the regime’s lawfulness – specifically the “inadequacy” of impact assessments and the omission of a grassland derogation outlined in earlier drafts.

“I am deeply disappointed that Welsh Government, in the height of a global pandemic, has proceeded with a copy and paste into Welsh law of one of the most ineffective and criticised pieces of EU regulation,” said NFU Cymru president John Davies.

More than 11,000 emails had been sent by farmers to Senedd Members expressing their concerns.

Addressing Plenary, Mrs Griffiths rejected their arguments, saying farm pollution of rivers and lakes had been a “blight on the reputation of Welsh farming for many years”.

Since the regulations were announced on January 27, she said, Natural Resources Wales had received 49 agripollution reports, of which 20 have so far been substantiated.

Over the last three years more than three incidents were being reported each week in Wales, she said.

“In 2020, when fewer reported incidents were investigated due to the Covid pandemic, numbers were still higher than in 2015, 2016 and 2017,” added Mrs Griffiths.

During yesterday’s debate Mr Gruffydd argued the proposed all-Wales regulations were disproportionate, as NRW had recommended only 8% of the country should be placed in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ).

They would also have unintended environmental impacts, he said.

In particular the proposed “farming-bycalendar” approach could see huge spikes in nitrate levels and even more pollution.

According to the Government’s own estimates, on-farm capital costs to comply with the regulations will be between £109m-£360m.

“That £360m is £30m more than Wales’s total average annual common agricultural policy budget over the last six years,” said Mr Gruffydd.

“Many farmers are already operating on the breadline, and this is going to just push them over the edge.”

He also voiced concerns for the 1,000 council farms in Wales, with local councils having to find up to £36m to pay for new infrastructure, prompting possible sell-offs.

Independent MS David J Rowlands told the debate of a letter he had received from Llangefnibased Glanbia Cheese, Europe’s biggest mozzarella cheese producer.

In it the firm warned many of its Welsh milk suppliers would be “put out of business”, forcing Glanbia to look beyond Wales for its milk.

Mr Rowlands added: “Cost benefits over the next 20 years are estimated at £300m, against an investment of £800m.

“How can this be justified? Surely, a far more cost-effective way would be to target these areas.

“Should these draconian measures go forward, we shall see many of our already impoverished farmers fail.”

NFU Cymru said ministers now have just three weeks to explain how the industry will implement the regulations.

“They have yet to publish any guidance despite the regulations coming into force in just over three weeks – this is unacceptable,” said Mr Davies.