Updates of recent actions and activities undertaken by partners of the board:

 

1: Natural England

2: Environment Agency

3: Herefordshire Council

4: NRW Update

NATURAL ENGLAND UPDATE

Update taken as read, with no questions from the board.

 

 

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY UPDATE

ES Enquired about the impact of the drought period on the Environment Agency.

 

MQ A lot of resources had been put into the Wye catchment and there had been significant focus on ‘new authorizations’ these were activities that were previous exempt, but now fell into the permitting regime and were licenced.

 

MQ stated that the EA had continued with its inspection and licensing regimes. It had piloted the use of sondes in the catchment area. These had improved communications and monitoring of river temperature. The sondes would be removed over winter to avoid them being washed away and damaged.

 

Sarah Faulkner (SF) enquired how seasonal variations could be measured if the sondes weren’t deployed over the Winter?

 

MQ Explained the risk of the sondes being washed away was high and that winter data was generally less reliable.

 

KSA asked if orthophosphate and total phosphate were parameters on the EA sondes?

MQ Explained that he sounds were being used for looking at water quality, temperature and PH.

 

MA, if the sondes don’t measure ortho or total phosphate, how do you measure phosphate?

 

MQ we can get phosphate readings from the auto samplers (8 in strategic locations).

 

MA No real-time data?

 

MQ I’d need to check and confirm.

 

MA Where does the new data go when it comes through.

 

MQ We have someone checking sonde data every day, which gives trend data. If we identify a spike in ammonium we can deploy people on the ground to try and locate the source of where that’s coming from.

 

MA How would we know if phosphate was going up or down?

 

MQ This issue really relates to funding and availability of equipment, and is perhaps something that could be viewed by the TAG subgroups.

 

 

 

The discussion on the update turned to poultry farming units:

 

ES how many under 40,000 bird units do you visit

 

MQ very few at all. General farming and livestock would be a priority.

 

ES It’s concerning that nobody is looking at them and we don’t know what percentage of birds is contained in the 40,000 units. We’re very unsighted.

 

MQ take some of these concerns to the sub group/working group.

 

MA can the EA release the results of its fair share assessment?

 

MQ we will get back to the board when we’re able to release this information and expect something to be published shortly.

 

MA the working groups need to know what fair share means in order to carry out their roles effectively.

 

KSA It’s amazing after years of negative intensive poultry unit stories in the papers, that the EA has seemingly done very little to look into this area. We’re working with Stonegate, Noble and Avara and there are about 50 free range sites within that supply chain. Visits have been quite challenging, because growers have never been told that their infrastructure is potentially causing pollution and they don’t have any guidance for those sites to know how they should be operating and are going ahead blindly without guidance from the regulatory authorities. They don’t know how to improve because they don’t know how to comply. It would be better if all sites were permitted, as it’s currently a bit of a black hole. It’s very frustrating.

 

 

ES how do we get to a place where 40,000 birds or less is worthy of a visit?

 

MQ it’s based on priority and risk, The EA prioritise larger units because they fall within its regulatory powers.

 

MQ This would probably be best discussed within the TAG.

 

David Lee (DL) There is a wealth of information about CoGAP (Code of Good Agricultural Practice) and SSAFO (Silage Slurry or Agricultural Fuel Oil). The ball is in the farmer’s court as to how they comply with the law.

 

DL We spend an awful lot of time commenting to Powys councillors and planning authorities that all infrastructures should comply with SSAFO. Farmers are told about what they need to comply with, and if they’re not complying then that’s necessarily the fault on this line.

 

DL provided a link to the new agriculture bill launched in Wales:

https://gov.wales/historic-first-welsh-agriculture-bill-support-farmers-future

 

Cllr Sid Phelps (SP) pointed out that focusing too much on under 40,000 units may not be worthwhile as most of the pollutants are exported and put on land.

 

RJ Stated that there was a need to challenge ourselves in terms of going further on enforcement. Enforcement was a plan and a project about a place.

 

RJ There’s a need for a proper risk assessment and enforcement for units with less than 40,000 birds, as we don’t know whether that’s the bulk of the flocks. The whole area needs to be subject to a habitats risk assessment.

 

ES This could sit in the regulation working group

 

AW any IPU whether below or above 40,000 will require planning permission, which in itself will require an HRA. So there is HRA screening even if it doesn’t end requiring an environmental permit.

 

RJ that’s permission to be in business, that’s not monitoring what happens once they’re operating and who looks at that? We have a gap as we don’t know whether the bulk is in units over or under 40,000.

 

RJ It might not be that from a regulatory perspective we are required to do this by law, but as an exemplar organisation we need to go further and subject that to a habitats risk assessment.

 

 

 

NRW UPDATE

ES need to keep both sides of the divide equally engaged.

 

ES It might be worth opening a dialogue with the Monnow Rivers Association (who are already over the invasive species) to make sure there’s no duplication.

 

ES Also worth talking to the angling community, because they often know the locations of the knotweed and crayfish.

 

ES Sad to hear of death of 40 salmon.

 

AW that was over the summer and not one incident.

 

ES enquired about the restoration project and how it was going to work with phosphate action plan.

 

AW the project links in with me, the TAG, this board and the SAC rivers project. It is not just about phosphates but about increasing resilience of the river as a whole. It’s a holistic project and will be substantial in its funding if it goes ahead.

 

ES I was at SACROG (Rivers Oversight Group) which had a lot of energy and was being supported by the Welsh government. Are the sondes you’re using being taken out of action during the Winter,

 

AW Our sondes are not linked to telemetry so no live feed. They are put out in areas where they shouldn’t be washed away, they will be rotated after eight weeks for fresh units. We are anticipating a drier than average winter, which is worrying as the whole of Wales is in drought. Next year is likely to be challenging for water quantity.

AW we’re hoping to host our data analysis on a publicly platform.

 

David Lee (DL) it might be worth talking with EA about sharing data with EA and pooling all the data together.

 

RJ We’re beginning to take an early look at the Wye and what might be needed for mitigation if we have to move to tighter measures. This will require help from the EA over targets and obligations and helping us identify where the opportunities are on the Wye. This should help in develop contingency plans.

 

 

 

HEREFORDSHIRE COUNCIL UPDATE

ES Drew the board’s attention to the terms of reference of the cabinet commission which includes writing of a plan for the nutrient management board.

 

ES in the recent SACROG meeting it was noted that the Welsh government was developing governance arrangements and terms of reference for all the nutrient management boards, of which we are one.  We are also an English board so it would make sense to wait and see what comes from these different sources and then try and do something that fits once the guidance is out.

 

RJ The chair of the commission has indicated that she wants to work very closely with the board.

 

RJ I’m also working closely with the Welsh group that are reviewing NMBs. The commission will engage in a fundamental review, which will take a fresh look at the nutrient management board and the nutrient management plan. Success will be dependent on the cooperation of voluntary partners and it is vital that a fresh look is taken at what is going on with the Wye.