The Government commissioned an independent review of DEFRA’s ‘regulatory landscape’, by the economist Dan Corry. This was to look at how regulations and regulators could be improved and made to work more efficiently and effectively.
29 recommendations have now been published:
Delivering economic growth and nature recovery: an independent review of Defra’s regulatory landscape – GOV.UK.
Below are some of the main recommendations which we feel will impact farming the most but are not exhaustive and the full review can be viewed at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/delivering-economic-growth-and-nature-recovery-an-independent-review-of-defras-regulatory-landscape/an-independent-review-of-defras-regulatory-landscape-foreword-and-executive-summary#executive-summary
Recommendation 12: Defra should swiftly develop plans to reform slurry application and storage to help address diffuse water pollution from agricultural sources. This is likely to involve changing the Farming Rules for Water and wider regulations relating to slurry application and storage. This should aim for a single set of regulations which farmers can understand and comply with.
Recommendation 21: Defra should explore launching a Nature Market Accelerator to bring much needed coherence to nature markets and accelerate investment. This should be small, focussed and industry funded to provide independent assurance on the governance and standardised processes needed to guide and protect the interests of suppliers of nature-based projects; investors in biodiversity and ecosystem services; and other intermediaries and third parties involved in trading. Clear market rules and governance will be essential in delivering public goods and services. Further functions could include more hands-on intervention including identifying projects and matching of projects to investors.
Recommendation 25: Following the agricultural transition, there is an opportunity to set out publicly how rural grants and payments can be used by farmers and landowners, in combination with green finance, to balance food production and nature outcomes. The production of Defra’s 25-year farming roadmap will be an opportunity to do this. This should set out where grants and payments have delivered multiple outcomes, how they can be integrated with green finance, and where they will need to continue to evolve to meet the needs of farmers and food production whilst delivering nature recovery outcomes.
The “Farming Rules for Water” have been part of the regulatory landscape for some years now, but have tended to be overlooked to some extent, at Vickers and Barrass we feel that this is likely to change dramatically because of this review and would urge everyone to consider the “Rules” and start planning for the “DEFRA’s new regulatory landscape”
We can provide help and guidance on this and the other matters within the review.
