Government scraps Nitrogen Sensitive Areas

29 July 1998

Government scraps Nitrogen Sensitive Areas

By FWi staff

THE Government is to abolish Nitrogen Sensitive Areas (NSA) with immediate affect, newly-appointed Agriculture Minister Nick Brown announced today (Wednesday).

Existing agreements will run their course and applications already received will be processed under existing rules.

The NFUs pollution consultant said earlier this year that NSAs had been successful in reducing nitrate levels but failed to improve borehole water quality.

An Environment Agency spokesman confirmed that nitrate levels had not changed in boreholes and that about 10% of monitored water remained above the EUs target of 50mg/l.