Decision 2009/431 - 2009/431/EC: Commission Decision of 29 May 2009 granting a derogation requested by the United Kingdom with regard to England, Scotland and Wales pursuant to Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources (notified under document number C(2009) 3853) - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 141/48

If the amount of manure that a Member State intends to apply per hectare each year is different from the one specified in the first sentence of the second subparagraph of paragraph 2 of Annex III to Directive 91/676/EEC and in point (a) thereof, that amount has to be fixed so as not to prejudice the achievement of the objectives specified in Article 1 of that Directive and has to be justified on the basis of objective criteria, such as, in the present case, long growing seasons and crops with high nitrogen uptake.

On 14 January 2009, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland submitted to the Commission a request for a derogation under the third subparagraph of paragraph 2 of Annex III to Directive 91/676/EEC with regard to England, Scotland and Wales.

The requested derogation concerns the intention of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to allow the application in England, Scotland and Wales of up to 250 kg nitrogen per hectare per year from livestock manure in grassland farms. Approximately 1 950 holdings in England, Scotland and Wales corresponding to 1,3 % of total farms, 1,5 % of the utilised agricultural land and 21 % of the total dairy livestock are estimated to be encompassed by the derogation.

The legislation implementing Directive 91/676/EEC, including designation of vulnerable zones and establishment of the action programme in England (Regulations 2008 No 2349), Scotland (Regulations 2008 No 298) and Wales (Regulations 2008 No 3143), has been adopted and applies in tandem with this Decision.

The designated vulnerable zones to which the action programmes apply cover 68 % of the total area of England, 14 % of the total area of Scotland and 4 % of the total area of Wales.

Water quality data submitted show that for groundwater in England 83 % of groundwater bodies have mean nitrate concentrations below 50 mg/l nitrate and 58 % concentrations below 25 mg/l nitrate. For Scotland and Wales, over 90 % of groundwater bodies have mean nitrate concentrations of less than 50 mg/l nitrate, and over 70 % have concentrations below 25 mg/l. For surface waters in England more than 50 % of monitoring sites have mean nitrate concentrations below 25 mg/l and no more than 9 % have over 50 mg/l nitrate. For Scotland and Wales over 90 % of monitoring sites have mean nitrate concentrations below 25 mg/l and no sites have over 50 mg/l nitrate.

Dairy cattle, beef cattle and sheep are the main types of grazing livestock in England, Scotland and Wales and livestock numbers show a decreasing trend in the period 1995-2007 (13 % reduction for cattle and 22 % for sheep and lamb). Around 48 % of the total production of livestock manure is handled as solid manure coming from straw based systems, 52 % of all livestock manure is handled as slurry.

The use of chemical fertilisers in the last 20 years has reduced with 42 % for...