The Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

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"action programme" means measures regarding the protection of water against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources as set out in Article 5 and Annex III of the Directive;

"agricultural area" means any land suitable for agricultural activities, including any common land used for grazing and excludes areas under farm roads, paths, buildings, woods, dense scrub, rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, sandpits, quarries, areas of peat cutting, bare rock, areas of forestry and areas fenced off or inaccessible other than forests where the use of the same is ancillary to the farming of land for other agricultural purposes;

"agricultural land" has the same meaning as in the Agriculture Act (Northern Ireland) 1949[7];

"Appeals Commission" means the Water Appeals Commission for Northern Ireland established under Article 7(1) of the Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1973[8];

"authorised person" means a person authorised by the Department under Article 72 of the Order in respect of fulfilling its functions;

"chemical fertiliser" means any fertiliser containing a nitrogen compound which is manufactured or blended by an industrial process;

"controller" means in relation to a holding, the person charged with management of the holding for the calendar year in question and in the absence of written agreement to the contrary, the owner of the agricultural area will be taken to be charged with its management;

"crop requirement" means the amount of nitrogen fertiliser which is reasonable to apply to land in any year for the purpose of promoting the growth of the crop having regard to the foreseeable nitrogen supply to the crop from the soil and from other sources, including any previous applications of livestock and other organic manure and any chemical fertilisers estimated as described in the fertiliser technical standards and regulation 9 of these Regulations;

"Department" means the Department of the Environment;

"Departments" mean the Department of the Environment and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development acting jointly;

"Directive" means Council Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991 concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources[9];

"dirty water" means a low dry matter waste made up of water contaminated by manure, urine, effluent, milk and cleaning materials with a Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) no greater than 2000 mg/litre and total nitrogen and dry matter contents as set out in Schedule 1 Table 2;

"environment" means any or all of the following media, namely the air, water and land;

"farmyard manure" means a mixture of bedding material and animal excreta in solid form arising from the housing of cattle, sheep and other livestock, excluding poultry manure, but including spent mushroom compost and the stackable solids fraction from mechanical separation of slurry excluding pig slurry;

"fertiliser technical standards" means the "DEFRA Fertiliser Recommendations for Agricultural and Horticultural Crops (RB209) 2000 7th edition" (as may from time to time be re-issued) and any supplementary guidance, and any other DEFRA publication substituting the standards set out in RB209 and any supplementary guidance;

"grassland" means any land on which the vegetation consists predominantly of grass species;

"holding" in relation to a controller means all the agricultural area managed by that controller;

"lake" means a body of standing inland surface water;

"land application" means the addition of materials to agricultural land whether by spreading on the surface of the land, injection into the land, placing below the surface of the land or mixing with the surface layers of the land but does not include the direct deposition of manure onto land by animals;

"livestock" means any animal kept for use or profit;

"livestock manure" save for the purposes of regulation 14 means waste products excreted by livestock, or a mixture of litter and waste products excreted by livestock, even in processed form;

"nitrogen compound" means any nitrogen-containing substance except for gaseous molecular nitrogen;

"nitrogen fertiliser" means any substance, including chemical fertiliser, containing a nitrogen compound utilised on land to enhance growth of vegetation;

"notice" means notice in writing;

"organic manure" means

(a) livestock manure, and

(b) nitrogen fertiliser, not being livestock manure or chemical fertiliser, derived from organic matter, and includes sewage sludge, residues from fish farms and other organic wastes;

"pig enterprise" means any enterprise with more than 10 breeding sow places or 150 finishing pig places;

"poultry enterprise" means any enterprise with more than 500 places;

"public" means such persons as appear to the Departments—

(a) to be representative of those carrying on any business which—


(i) is, or is likely to be, directly affected by the action programme; or

(ii) relies upon the water environment; or



(b) to have an interest in the protection of the water environment;

"scientific case" means a reasoned case, as set out in guidance issued on these Regulations, designed to demonstrate that the proposed deviation from the values set out in Schedule 1 Tables 1, 2 or 3 of these Regulations will have no worse effect on the environment than that caused by using the aforementioned values;

"silage effluent" has the same meaning as in regulation 1(1) of the Control of Pollution (Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003[10];

"slurry" means (a) excreta produced by livestock whilst in a yard or building or (b) a mixture of such excreta with bedding, rainwater, seepage, washings or any other extraneous material from a building or yard used by livestock or in which livestock manure is stored or (c) any other organic manure or any combination of these, of a consistency that allows it to be pumped or discharged by gravity at any stage in the handling process and includes dirty water that is stored with slurry or mixed with slurry;

"soil fertility status" means the soil reserves available for uptake by the next crop estimated as described in the fertiliser technical standards;

"steeply sloping land" means land which has an average incline of 20% or more;

"the Order" means the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997;

"underground strata" has the same meaning as in Article 2(2) of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999[11];

"water pollution" means the discharge, directly or indirectly, of nitrogen compounds from agricultural sources into the aquatic environment, the results of which are such to cause hazards to human health, harm to living resources and to aquatic ecosystems, damage to amenities or interference with other legitimate uses of water;

"waterlogged" means soil where water appears on the surface of the land when pressure is added;

"waterway" has the same meaning as in Article 2(2) of the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999.

    (3) Other expressions used in these Regulations have the same meaning as in the Directive.

    (6) The maximum land application of solid organic manure shall be 50 tonnes per hectare at any one time provided this does not exceed the limits set out in regulation 9(1) and 10(3) and a period of at least 3 weeks shall be left between such land applications.

    (7) The maximum land application of slurry shall be 50 m³/ha at any one time provided this does not exceed the limits set out in regulation 9(1) and 10(3) and a period of at least 3 weeks shall be left between such land applications.

    (8) The land application of slurry shall only be permitted by spreading close to the ground using inverted splash plate spreading, bandspreading, trailing hose, trailing shoe, soil injection or soil incorporation methods.

Requirements as to the manner of land application of dirty water
     8. —(1) Subject to regulations 7(2) and 7(3), the land application of dirty water to any land shall be permitted throughout the year, provided that it is done in a uniform and accurate manner.

    (2) The maximum land application of dirty water shall be 50 m³/ha at any one time and a period of at least 2 weeks shall be left between such land applications.

    (3) The land application of dirty water shall not be permitted within: –

(a) 20m of lakes; or

(b) 50m of a borehole, spring or well; or

(c) 250m of a borehole used for a public water supply; or

(d) 15m of exposed cavernous or karstified limestone features (such as swallow–holes and collapse features); or

(e) 10m of any waterway, other than lakes, including open areas of water, open field drains or any drain which has been backfilled to the surface with permeable material such as stone/aggregate; except that

(f) the distance for (e) may be reduced to 3m of any waterway where the land has an average incline less than 10% towards the waterway and where:


(i) organic manures are spread by bandspreaders, trailing hose or trailing shoe or soil injection; or

(ii) the adjoining area is less than 1 hectare in size or not more than 50m in width.

    (4) The land application of dirty water shall only take place by spreading close to the ground using inverted splash plate spreading, bandspreading, trailing hose, trailing shoe, soil injection or soil incorporation methods and by irrigation.

Measures governing the limits on land application of nitrogen fertiliser to grassland
     9. —(1) The amount of total nitrogen in livestock manure applied to the agricultural area of a holding, both by land application and by the animals themselves, shall not exceed 170kg N/ha/year when calculated in accordance with paragraphs (3) and (4).

    (2) For each holding, the total available nitrogen in organic manures and chemical fertiliser, excluding livestock manures, applied to grassland, shall be in proportion to the crop requirement of the holding, and shall not exceed the amounts as defined in Schedule 1 Table 4, when calculated in accordance with paragraphs (5), (6) and (7).

    (3) The total nitrogen from livestock manure from animals kept on the holding will be calculated in accordance with Schedule 1 Table 1.

    (4) The total nitrogen from imported livestock manures will be calculated in accordance with Schedule 1 Table 2 for slurry and Schedule 1 Table 3 for solid livestock manures.

    (5) The total nitrogen content per tonne of other organic manures, excluding livestock manure, shall be as declared in accordance with the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003[12] and any amending Regulations.

    (6) The amount of nitrogen available to a crop from chemical fertiliser, in the year of application of that fertiliser, is the percentage specified in Schedule 1 Table 6.

    (7) Except in the case of livestock manure, the amount of nitrogen available to a crop from organic manure in the year of its application is the percentage specified in Schedule 1 Table 6, in relation to cattle and other livestock manure.

    (8) Any controller wishing to deviate from the values set out in Schedule 1 Tables 1, 2 or 3 must present a scientific case in order to obtain prior approval from the Department, and the Department shall only grant such approval where it is satisfied that a scientific case has been established.

    (9) A controller may appeal the decision by the Department in paragraph (8) in accordance with the procedure set out in regulation 23.

Measures governing the limits on land application of nitrogen fertiliser to land other than grassland
     10. —(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), in relation to a holding the quantity of nitrogen fertiliser added to land other than grassland both by land application and by the animals themselves each year shall not exceed the crop requirements for nitrogen calculated in accordance with paragraphs (4) to (8).

    (2) The amount of nitrogen fertiliser applied to land other than grassland both by land application and by the animals themselves shall not exceed the recommendations contained in the fertiliser technical standards.

    (3) The amount of total nitrogen in livestock manure applied to the agricultural area of the holding, both by land application and by the animals themselves, shall not exceed 170kg N/ha/year when calculated in accordance with paragraphs (4) and (5).

    (4) The total nitrogen from livestock manure from animals kept on the holding will be calculated in accordance with Schedule 1 Table 1.

    (5) The total nitrogen from imported livestock manures will be calculated in accordance with Schedule 1 Table 2 for slurry and Schedule1 Table 3 for solid livestock manures.

    (6) The total nitrogen content per tonne of other organic manures, excluding livestock manure, shall be as declared in accordance with the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 and any amending Regulations.

    (7) The amount of nitrogen available to a crop from livestock manures or chemical fertiliser in the year of application of that fertiliser is the percentage specified in Schedule 1 Table 6.

    (8) Except in the case of livestock manure, the amount of nitrogen available to a crop from organic manure in the year of its application is the percentage specified in Schedule 1 Table 6, in relation to cattle and other livestock manure.

    (9) Any controller wishing to deviate from the values set out in Schedule 1 Tables 1, 2 or 3 must present a scientific case in order to obtain prior approval from the Department, and the Department shall only grant such approval where it is satisfied that a scientific case has been established.

    (10) A controller may appeal the decision by the Department in paragraph (9) in accordance with the procedure set out in regulation 23.

Manner of storage and location of poultry litter storage facilities
     14. —(1) Subject to regulation 28 poultry litter may be stored in the field where land application will take place subject to a maximum limit of 180 days.

    (2) Where poultry litter is stored in a midden it shall have adequate effluent collection facilities prior to field storage or land application.

    (3) Where stored in a field, poultry litter must be stored in a compact heap but not in the same location of the field in consecutive years and must be covered with an impermeable membrane within 24 hours of placement in the fields.

    (4) Poultry litter heaps must not be placed within:

(a) 50m of lakes; or

(b) 20m of any waterway, including open areas of water, open field drains or any drain which has been backfilled to the surface with permeable material such as stone/aggregate; or

(c) 50m around a borehole, spring or well; or

(d) 250m from any borehole used for a public water supply; or

(e) 50m of exposed cavernous or karstified limestone features (such as swallow-holes and collapse features).

    (5) In this regulation, poultry litter means a mixture of bedding material and poultry manure arising from the housing of poultry and with a dry matter content not less than 55% .

Manner of storage for dirty water
     15. Provision for the safe storage of dirty water should be available for those periods when weather and ground conditions, as set out in regulation 7(2), are unsuitable for land application.

Calculation of livestock manure storage capacity
     16. —(1) In calculating the livestock manure storage capacity of a holding, the following farming practices may be taken into account:

(a) the quantity of farmyard manure;

(b) any solids removed from slurry other than pig slurry by means of a slurry separator;

(c) any additional storage available off the holding, by means of a rental agreement; and

(d) any valid contract the holding has with a manure processing facility or demonstrable access to an approved treatment or recovery outlet.

    (2) Subject to paragraph (4), the livestock manure storage capacity of a holding may be less than the capacity specified in regulation 11 in relation to: –

(a) sheep, deer and goats which are out-wintered at a grassland stocking rate which does not exceed 130 kg nitrogen at any time during the period specified in regulation 6(3) in relation to the application of organic manure as calculated in accordance with paragraph (6); and

(b) livestock (other than dairy cows, sheep, deer and goats) which are out-wintered at a grassland stocking rate which does not exceed 85 kg of nitrogen at any time during the period specified in regulation 6(3) in relation to the application of organic manure, as calculated in accordance with paragraph (6), provided the amount of livestock manure produced on the holding does not exceed 140kg N/ha/year in accordance with regulation 9.

(c) in the case of a mixed holding the nitrogen limit in sub-paragraph (b) shall apply except where the controller of the holding demonstrates to the Department that the livestock out-wintered more appropriately reflects the composition of the livestock applicable in sub-paragraph (a).

    (3) The livestock manure storage capacity of a holding shall be calculated in accordance with:

(a) the livestock manure production figures specified in Schedule 1 Table 5; and

(b) any further procedures for calculating such storage capacity which will be specified in guidance relating to these Regulations.

    (4) A holding falling within paragraph (2) must ensure that:

(a) out-wintered livestock have free access at all times to the required land area;

(b) land is maintained in good agricultural and environmental condition; and

(c) the reduction in storage capacity is proportionate to the extent of out-wintered livestock on the holding.

    (5) Any land used for the purpose of out-wintering under paragraphs (2) and (4) must be under the control of the holding to which the exemption applies.

    (6) In this regulation, a grassland stocking rate of 130 kg or 85 kg of nitrogen, as the case may be, means the stocking of grassland on a holding at any time by such numbers and types of livestock as would in the course of a year excrete waste products containing 130 kg or 85 kg of nitrogen, as the case may be, per hectare of the grassland when calculated in accordance with the nitrogen excretion rate for livestock specified in Schedule 1 Table 1.

    (7) In this regulation, mixed holding means a holding where there are sheep, deer, goats and other livestock (other than dairy cows).

Crop management
     18. In having regard to these Regulations, the following principles of crop management shall apply:

(a) residues of crops harvested late, such as maize and potatoes, shall be left undisturbed until immediately prior to sowing the following Spring; and

(b) where grass leys are grown in rotation with arable crops the first crop should be sown as soon as possible after the grass has been ploughed.

    (3) Records under this regulation shall be prepared for each calendar year by 30 June of the following year and shall be retained for a period of 5 years from that date.

Duty of the controller not to provide false or misleading information
     20. The controller shall not compile records which are false or misleading to a material extent or furnish any such false or misleading records or any notice or other document for the purposes of these Regulations.

Appeals against notices requiring works etc
     23. Appeals under regulations 9(9), 10(10) and 22(4) shall be determined by the Appeals Commission in accordance with the procedure set down in Article 8 of the Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1973 and for the purposes of appeals under these Regulations references to the Department in Article 8 shall have the same meaning as under these Regulations.

Offences
     24. —(1) It shall be an offence to fail to comply without reasonable excuse with regulation 4, 6(3), 7(2), 7(3), 7(6), 7(7), 8(2), 9(1) and 10(3).

    (2) It shall be an offence to fail to comply with regulation 6(1), 6(2), 7(1), 7(4), 7(5), 7(8), 8(1), 8(3), 8(4), 9(2), 9(8), 10(1), 10(2), 10(9), 11(1), 11(3), 11(4), 12, 13, 14(1)-(4), 15, 17, 18, 19 and 20 of these Regulations.

    (3) It shall be an offence for a controller to fail without reasonable cause to comply with the conditions of a notice issued under regulation 22.

Penalties
     25. A controller found guilty of an offence under regulation 24 shall be liable:

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale together with a fine of an amount equal to one-tenth of that level for each day upon which the offence continues after the conviction; or

(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or both.

(a) Regulation 6(3) will apply in the case of a holding without the prescribed storage capacity in place as required under regulations 11(3) and 12(1) to 12(3) from the date on which the prescribed storage capacity as required under regulation 11(3) and 12(1) to 12(3) is put in place or at the latest by 31 December 2008;

(b) Regulations 11(3) and 12(1) to 12(3) will apply from the date on which the prescribed storage capacity is put in place or at the latest by 31 December 2008;

(c) Regulation 14(1) will apply from the operational date of these Regulations until 31 December 2008 only;

(d) A notice served under regulation 4 of The Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999[13] prior to their revocation in accordance with regulation 30 shall be deemed to be a notice served under these Regulations with the coming into operation of these Regulations.

Consequential amendments
     29. —(1) The Control of Pollution (Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 are amended as follows:

(a) Before regulation 2(1) insert “2(1A) The definitions of "agricultural area", "dirty water", "controller", "holding" and "slurry" shall have the same meaning as in regulation 3(2) of the Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006.“

(b) Delete from regulation 2(1) the definition of "slurry".

(c) Schedule 2 shall be amended as follows:

     Delete paragraph 6 and replace with the following:

     " 6. —(1) Subject to sub-paragraph (2), the capacity of storage facilities for slurry of a holding shall be sufficient and adequate to provide for the storage of all the slurry which is likely to require storage on the holding for such period as may be necessary to ensure compliance with the Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006.

    (2) The matters to which regard is to be had under sub-paragraph (1) are—


(a) the likely quantities of rainfall (including any fall of snow, hail or sleet) which may fall or drain into the slurry storage tank during the likely maximum storage period;

(b) the need to make provision for not less than 750 millimetres of freeboard in the case of a tank with walls made of earth and 300 millimetres of freeboard in all other cases; and

(c) soil quality in the vicinity of the slurry storage tank."

    (2) The Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 Schedule 2 shall be amended as follows—

(a) in Part I, paragraph 9, substitute sub-paragraph (3)(c) with "where the Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 applies treatment shall be carried out in accordance with those Regulations";

(b) in Part I, paragraph 10, substitute sub-paragraph (1)(c) with "where the Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 applies the spreading shall be carried out in accordance with those Regulations";

(c) in Part I, paragraph 11, substitute sub-paragraph (3)(e) with "where the Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 applies the spreading shall be carried out in accordance with those Regulations";

(d) in Part I, paragraph 25, sub-paragraph (1) substitute "sub-paragraphs (2) to (4A)" for "sub-paragraphs (2) to (4)";

(e) in Part I, paragraph 25, delete sub-paragraph (4A);

(f) in Part I, delete paragraph 47A, sub-paragraph (1) and replace with the following:

     " 47A. —(1) The treatment of land used for agriculture with agricultural waste where such treatment results in benefit to agriculture or ecological improvement if—


(a) the waste consists only of liquid milk;

(b) before the treatment the waste is diluted with not less than an equal quantity of water or slurry;

(c) in any period of 30 days the land is treated with no more than 50 cubic metres (tonnes) of diluted waste per hectare; and

(d) the treatment shall be carried out in accordance with the Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006."



(g) in Part I, delete paragraph 47B and replace with the following:

     " 47B. The deposit of agricultural waste consisting of plant tissue at the place of production if—


(a) there is no more than 250 cubic metres (tonnes) in any one deposit;

(b) the deposit is not immediately adjacent to any other deposit made in reliance on this exemption; and

(c) the deposit shall be carried out in accordance with the Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006."



(h) in Part III, substitute paragraph 2(b) with "for exempt activities to which the Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 apply the exempt activity shall be carried out in accordance with those Regulations."

Revocations
     30. —(1) In accordance with the Protection of Water Against Agricultural Nitrate Pollution Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 the following statutory provisions shall be revoked in their entirety upon the coming into operation of these Regulations:

(a) The Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999; and

(b) The Protection of Water Against Agricultural Nitrate Pollution Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003[14].

    (2) The Protection of Water Against Agricultural Nitrate Pollution (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005[15] shall be revoked in their entirety upon the coming into operation of these Regulations.



Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on


1st December 2006.

L.S.

David Small
A senior officer of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development


Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of the Environment on


1st December 2006.

L.S.

Wesley Shannon
A senior officer of the Department of the Environment

[2] 1972 c.68back

[3] O.J. L.156. 25/06/2003, P. 0017 - 0025back

[4] S.I. 1997/2778 (N.I. 19)back

[5] S.R. 2004 No. 419back

[6] 1954 c.33 (N.I.)back

[7] 1949 c.2 (N.I.)back

[8] S.I. 1973/70 (N.I. 2)back

[9] O.J. L. 375, 31/12/1991 P. 0001- 0008back

[10] S.R. 2003 No. 319back

[11] S.I. 1999/662 (N.I. 6)back

[12] S.R. 2003 No. 493back

[13] S.R. 1999 No. 156back

[14] S.R. 2003 No. 259back

[15] S.R. 2005 No. 306back