Defra in nitrate zone letter shambles

Defra has again sent hundreds of nitrate vulnerable zone (NVZ) notifications to land agents instead of farmers, with no information about who they are for.

This is despite the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV) informing the department of the problem two days after the first tranche of notices was sent out.

Now agents say they have started to receive NVZ notices as part of the second tranche, causing concern that farmers could miss the 28-day deadline for appeals. 

See also: Check NVZ designations, farmers warned

Kate Russell, policy and technical adviser at CAAV, said Defra seemed to be using information from the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) database, which would relate to agents acting for farmers on BPS.

“Defra think it’s a small proportion [of notices], but we know it’s hundreds,” she said.

A Defra spokesperson told Farmers Weekly the department was aware of the issue, but had sent out the letters to make agents and farmers aware of the designations.

They said Defra would be sending out further letters directly to farmers whose notifications had been sent to agents.

This was expected to happen in the next month and would reset people’s 28-day appeals deadline date.

Moore Allen’s office in Cirencester had received about 95 notifications from the first and second tranche, said partner Chris Graham, while he himself had received 33.

The only individual information on the letters was an NVZ identification number, which didn’t relate to anything the agents had access to, said Mr Graham. He had rung the Environment Agency (EA) helpline number on the letter, only to be redirected to Defra and then back to the EA.

“There is literally nothing you can do,” he said. “It’s a shambles. All these notices were sent out first class – apart from the cost of that, there is the cost to agents and clients in wasting time, then the cost to the EA and Defra in handling enquiries generated, then the cost of appeals.”

Dan Page, director at Samuel & Son in East Sussex, said he had received about 40 letters.

He had called Defra to see if it could link the NVZ IDs on the letters to their clients, but had been told the data was protected.

He said he had sent 150 emails to clients to inform them of the problem and to advise them to check the EA website.

Legal obligation

Julie Robinson, partner at Roythornes solicitors, said the legislation on NVZs was clear in its wording that Defra was obliged to serve a notice to the “owner or occupier” of the holding. 

The NFU was looking into whether the government had met its legal obligation to issue notices, said water quality policy adviser Nicola Dunn, as this was in doubt.

She hoped the issue would be resolved before the third and final tranche of notices is sent on 20 February.

Farmers can check if their land is in an NVZ on the EA’s website at http://bit.ly/2j3HkO2 or ask the EA to reissue a notification, which should give a new 28-day appeal deadline.