We’ll pull down the EU billboards – Leadsom
EU diktats forcing farmers to erect huge pro-Brussels billboards on their land are to be scrapped.
Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom will pledge to sweep away a raft of EU red tape in the wake of Brexit.
She will tell the Oxford Farming Conference that this red tape is ‘weighing down farmers in mountains of paperwork’ that costs £5million a year and 300,000 man hours.
Mrs Leadsom will also vow to ditch the ‘three crop rule’ which sets out how many different crops farms must plant each year – freeing 40,000 farmers to grow what they like.
Mrs Leadsom, one of the leaders of the Brexit campaign, will tell the conference: ‘For too long, a bureaucratic system which tries to meet the needs of 28 countries has held farmers back. But now, leaving the EU means we can focus on what works best for the UK.
‘Our farmers will finally be free to get on with the job of growing fantastic food in a way that meets our aims of a world leading food industry and a better protected environment. My priority will be common sense rules that work for the United Kingdom.’
Applicants to the Countryside Stew- ardship scheme, which rewards landowners for work done to protect wildlife and natural landscapes, are required by EU law to meet publicity guidance, which normally involves putting up large pro-Brussels signs.
Measuring as much as ft by 4ft for the biggest grants, they must be displayed permanently to avoid a penalty.
The rules also require farmers to set aside 5 per cent of their land for ‘ecological focus areas’ around hedges, ditches and ponds.
Whitehall officials say that, outside of the EU, more ‘common sense definitions’ can be introduced.