Tag: Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 15 November 2022.

A new National Nature Reserve is being formally created today (15 November) by Natural England in Ennerdale, West Cumbria. It will be the largest nature reserve in the county and the 9th largest in England.

The new ‘Wild Ennerdale National Nature Reserve’ will cover over 3000 hectares of landscape comprising water, forests and mountains.  This formal declaration is among the first ‘Super NNR’s’ in England. Super NNRs are recognised for their landscape-scale approach to partnership working.

The Wild Ennerdale Partnership began 20 years ago and has a vision to allow natural processes to shape the ecology and landscapes within the valley.  It brings together four organisations: Forestry England, National Trust, United Utilities and Natural England.

Work over almost two decades has significantly improved nature recovery in the Ennerdale landscape and sustainable grazing has been promoted across grasslands, forests and open fells.

Tony Juniper, Chair of Natural England, said:

Wild Ennerdale is a diverse and varied landscape which supports some of our most unique and precious wildlife, including Red Squirrels, the Freshwater Pearl Mussels that dwell in the river there and which can live for 100 years, and the Arctic Charr – a fish that has hung on in the valley since the last Ice Age.

We have been working with partners for some years to improve this already amazing place and its declaration as a National Nature Reserve will enhance the spectacular landscape, wildlife and habitats, safeguarding them for the future while providing space for people to get close to wild Nature. National Nature Reserves are at the very centre of our ambition to create a vibrant national Nature Recovery Network comprised of bigger and better places for both wildlife and people. The Ennerdale partnership is a great example of what we have in mind and shows how working together can achieve that aim.

Environment Minister Trudy Harrison said:

Ennerdale Valley is a haven for fish, birds and insects and provides much treasured access to green space for local people. The declaration today strengthens our commitment to nature’s recovery and our ambitions under the 25 Year Environment Plan to leave the natural world in a better state than we found it.

Support from local communities is essential for the success of National Nature Reserves, and it’s vital that we work together to protect the future of these wildlife habitats. I hope the partnership will continue to build strong relationships with local landowners, communities and farmers – who are custodians of the countryside – to develop sustainable uses for these sites.

Ennerdale Water in the valley is home to the Arctic Charr – a fish that has survived here since the ice age – and the River Ehen, which flows out of the lake, hosts the biggest population of freshwater mussels in England.

The valley is encased by woodlands of Atlantic oakwood, rich with bryophytes, lichens, and conifers which are a vital habitat for red squirrels. As altitude increases out of the valley, woodlands are replaced by montane heath where nationally rare plants such as shrubby cinquefoil and alpine saw-wort can be spotted.

National Nature Reserves (NNRs) were established to protect some of England’s most important habitats, species and geology, provide ‘outdoor laboratories’ for research and offer opportunities to the public, volunteers, schools and specialist interest groups to experience wildlife and nature first-hand, along with learning more about nature conservation and benefits for nature and society.

Rachel Oakley on behalf of the Wild Ennerdale Partnership said:

We’re delighted to achieve NNR status for this beautiful Lake District valley. We are constantly reminded of the nature and climate crisis we face now and for the future and this announcement (today) shows how working together and prioritising nature can reap rewards for us all”.

These landscapes are constantly evolving and need to be ‘fit for purpose’ to adapt and respond to the many challenges we face. Nature can thrive if given space and a helping hand and we are seeing tangible results of that in Ennerdale. We are doing this through partnership working and today is very much about acknowledging and thanking the wide range of individuals and groups locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally who have supported this journey to date. NNR status is about prioritising nature recovery and will continue to do that at scale, along with many other great projects around the county”.

It’s fitting that Wild Ennerdale becomes the largest NNR in the county as we mark the 70th anniversary this year of the first NNR’s back in 1952”.

The announcement today demonstrates how the Government is delivering on the Environment Act – a key target of which is to halt the decline in our wildlife populations through a legally binding target for species abundance by 2030.

England’s first Nature Reserve was created on 19 May 1952. Wild Ennerdale is the 221st site to be formally recognised, with sites spanning more than 106,000ha across England. These ‘nature hotspots’ are key to restoring nature across England and helping to bring green spaces and wildlife to everyone, including those who live in towns and cities.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 10 November 2022.

Natural flood management work to increase flood resilience across the Aire catchment in Leeds continues as the next tree planting season is set to begin.

The Environment Agency, working alongside Leeds City Council and other partners, will be implementing a range of nature-based solutions across the Upper Aire catchment to reduce flood risk in the area as part of the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme’s Natural Flood Management project. Natural flood management can help to reduce flood risk by mimicking natural processes and slowing the flow of water.

At the end of the last planting season, £3.7m had been invested in the scheme so far with a further £1.1m forecast for this year.

Two major interventions for the project are soil aeration and tree planting, delivered by landowners and strategic partners on behalf of the Environment Agency, and the White Rose Forest respectively.

Soil aeration helps increase the storage capacity of water in the ground by using a machine to poke holes into compacted soil and allow air, water and nutrients to penetrate through. This reduces surface water run-off that could contribute to peak flows in rivers and their connected streams, therefore reducing flood risk. This technique is also beneficial as it makes soil rich and fertile for growing crops.

So far 288 hectares of soil aeration has been successfully carried out, with a further 218 hectares currently being delivered, or in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, over 410,000 trees have been planted in the catchment and, as the next tree planting season begins, the Environment Agency and partners have set an ambitious target of over 100,000 trees to be planted between October 2022 and March 2023. This equates to approximately 55 hectares or 77 football pitches.

Jenny Longley, Area flood risk manager at the Environment Agency, said:
The Environment Agency is committed to providing the highest protection against flooding in Leeds.

Alongside our traditional flood defences, nature-based solutions can reduce flood risks and have a range of positive benefits for the city such as increased biodiversity, and improved habitat and water quality.

We’re excited to be working with our partners to deliver this work as part of the Leeds scheme, which will ensure the area is more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Councillor Helen Hayden, Leeds City Council’s executive member for infrastructure and climate, said:

Increasing the flood resilience of Leeds is an important part of our response to the climate emergency.

When complete in 2023, the engineering works on Leeds FAS2 will provide significant flood protection to thousands of residents and hundreds of businesses in Leeds. These sustainable, nature-based solutions will complement our engineered defences, and ensure that the FAS2 scheme is even more resilient to the effects of climate change.

We are proud to be working with the Environment Agency on a natural flood management scheme of this scale and delighted that we are on track to have planted over half a million trees by March 2023, as well as completing vast areas of soil aeration and other Natural Flood Management techniques.

This work allows us to slow the flow of water and considerably reduce flood risk, and also capture huge amounts of carbon, create a range of habitats for wildlife, increase the efficiency of farmland in our region, and create areas of natural beauty for residents to enjoy for generations to come.

Other natural flood risk measures are also being delivered through an innovative platform known as NatureBid. The NatureBid project is an auction that provides the opportunity for landowners and farmers to bid for funding to conduct targeted natural flood management measures onto their land. The auction was carried out last year; successful bids began being implemented across the catchment over the summer and will continue through this planting season up to March 2023.

Some of the measures that will be carried out from the NatureBid 2 project include tree planting, soil aeration, creating new hedgerows and buffer strips, and installing leaky dams, which all help to slow the flow of water in the catchment and reduce peak flows downstream and in doing so decrease the risk of flooding.

Natural Flood Management also offers wider benefits including improving soil health, improving habitats and providing greater biodiversity for wildlife and increasing carbon sequestration.

Read more about natural flood management in the Upper Aire catchment on Leeds City Council’s Commonplace website.

If you have land and are interested in tree planting, visit the White Rose Forest’s website on www.whiteroseforest.org/aireriver.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 8 November 2022.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 8 November 2022.

The second phase of a vital Flood Alleviation Scheme for Clifton Ings in York is underway, as the Environment Agency launches the Flood Action Week (7 November – 13 November) campaign to encourage those who live in flood risk areas to prepare for flooding this winter.

Led by the Environment Agency, the £21m scheme covers the Clifton and Rawcliffe areas of York and will better protect 135 homes from flooding and reduce the risk of flood water spilling onto Shipton Road – an important transport route into the city – providing protection for local businesses.

Phase one of the scheme completed in April this year and involved initial enabling works to prepare the site for development. This included building an alternative Sustrans cycle track for walkers, runners and cyclists to use whilst construction takes place in Rawcliffe Meadow.

Phase two is currently underway and expected to complete in summer 2024. Once complete, this will see the embankment raised and extended into Rawcliffe Country Park, a new pumping station for Blue Beck built, and habitat restoration works completed – including protection for the critically endangered Tansy beetle which lives in grassland on the site.

Due to the popularity of the green space around Clifton and Rawcliffe, the Environment Agency has worked to maintain visitor access to as many different parts of the Ings as possible. Throughout the construction period, most of the site will remain open and the main access routes along its length, from the northern to southern end, are still open to pedestrians. Restrictions and path closures that have been put in place are necessary to ensure visitor safety.

This year’s Flood Action Week comes as the Environment Agency has now expanded its flood warning service to reach almost 50,000 new properties at risk of flooding and hopes to exceed its target to provide new warning capability for 62,000 properties at risk of flooding by this winter. It brings the number of properties registered with the service to 1.6 million.

Brendan Sharkey, project manager at the Environment Agency, said:

Clifton Ings is an important and much loved green space, used by many people in York, so we’ve designed this scheme very carefully to minimise impact on the environment, visitors and the local community.

This is a vital scheme which will help reduce flood risk for homes in Clifton and Rawcliffe and make York more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

However, despite our best efforts to increase flood resilience in the region, we cannot prevent all flooding. It’s important that people know what to do in a flood and familiarise themselves with the Prepare, Act and Survive guidance. Knowing just one action to take can reduce the effects on your home and family, and even save a life.

Since work gained approval in 2019, the Environment Agency developed plans to minimise the impact of the work across the site, particularly in Clifton Ings and Rawcliffe Meadow, where rare meadow grassland species and the critically endangered Tansy beetle are found. A programme of habitat restoration, mitigation and management has been developed as well as extensive surveys of other plants and wildlife on site.

The Clifton Ings scheme forms part of the wider York Flood Alleviation Scheme, which will better protect over 2,000 properties in York and surrounding communities once complete.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 7 November 2022.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 7 November 2022.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 1 November 2022.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 31 October 2022.

Mandatory housing measures for all poultry and captive birds are to be introduced to all areas of England from 00:01 on Monday 7 November, following a decision by the United Kingdom’s Chief Veterinary Officer.

The housing measures legally require all bird keepers to keep their birds indoors and to follow stringent biosecurity measures to help protect their flocks from the disease, regardless of type or size.

The order will extend the mandatory housing measures already in force in the hot spot area of Suffolk, Norfolk and parts of Essex to the whole of England following an increase in the national risk of bird flu in wild birds to very high.

Over the last year, the United Kingdom has faced its largest ever outbreak of avian influenza with over 200 cases confirmed since late October 2021. The introduction of the housing measures comes after the disease was detected at over 70 premises since the beginning of October, as well as multiple reports in wild birds.

The Chief Veterinary Officer is now encouraging all bird keepers across England to use the week to prepare, including taking steps to safeguard animal welfare, consult their private vet and expand housing where necessary.

The United Kingdom’s Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said:

We are now facing this year, the largest ever outbreak of bird flu and are seeing rapid escalation in the number of cases on commercial farms and in backyard birds across England. The risk of kept birds being exposed to disease has reached a point where it is now necessary for all birds to be housed until further notice.

Scrupulous biosecurity and separating flocks in all ways, from wild birds remain the best form of defence. Whether you keep just a few birds or thousands, from Saturday 5 November onwards you must keep your indoors. This decision has not been taken lightly, but is the best way to protect your birds from this highly infectious disease.

Evidence shows that housing birds reduces the risk of kept birds being infected with bird flu. However, housing alone will not protect birds and all keepers must still follow the other enhanced biosecurity measures mandated by the AIPZ at all times to protect their flocks and prevent the risk of future outbreaks which is circulating in wild birds. Housing combined with stringent biosecurity measures can provide even greater reduction in risk.

The new housing measures build on the strengthened biosecurity measures that were brought in as part of the Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) earlier this month. The AIPZ means that all bird keepers need to take extra precautions, such as restricting access for non-essential people on site, ensuring workers change clothing and footwear before entering bird enclosures and cleaning and disinfecting vehicles regularly to limit the risk of the disease spreading.
The UK Health Security Agency continue to advise that the risk to public health from the virus is very low and the Food Standards Agency advice remains unchanged, that avian influenzas pose a very low food safety risk for UK consumers. Properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 31 October 2022.

Legislation to unlock new technologies to boost food production and support farmers to grow more productive crops will return to Parliament today – paving the way for Britain to become the best place in the world to invest in agri-food research and innovation

Third Reading of the Bill is scheduled for today (Monday 31 October) and is expected to be introduced in the House of Lords the following day.

By introducing a more proportionate and science-based regulatory system for precision-bred plants and animals, it will unlock opportunities to develop crops that are more resilient against disease and the effects of climate change such as drought and flooding, and less reliant on pesticides.

Farming Minister Mark Spencer said:

We are already seeing how new genetic technologies can increase yields, make our food more nutritious and result in crops that are more resistant to disease and weather extremes.

British scientists are leading the world in precision breeding and this Bill will put Britain at the forefront of agri-research and innovation – opening the door for more investment and continuing our work to provide farmers with the tools they need to innovate and use new, smart technologies.

The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill covers precision-bred plants and animals developed through techniques such as gene editing, where the genetic changes could have occurred naturally or through traditional breeding methods. This is different to genetic modification (GM), which produces organisms containing additional genes.

While there is great potential for increasing innovation, the government recognises that there is a need to safeguard animal welfare in the new regulatory framework. That is why we are taking a step-by-step approach, enabling use of precision breeding technologies with plants first followed by animals later.

Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser Gideon Henderson said:

This is an important time for agricultural science.  The ability to use gene editing to make precise, targeted changes to the genetic code of organisms, in a way that can mimic traditional breeding, enables development of new crop varieties that are more resistant to pests, healthier to eat, and more resilient to drought and heat as climate changes.

For centuries, traditional breeders have made use of our understanding of genetics to breed plant varieties with desirable characteristics. Gene editing allows precision breeding to make the same type of genetic changes in a far more efficient and precise way, significantly reducing the time needed to create new varieties.  Precision breeding is a powerful and important tool to help us tackle the challenges of biodiversity and climate change, while feeding a still growing global population.

Professor Nigel Halford, Crop Scientist at Rothamsted Research, said:

It is tremendously exciting to see this Bill progress to the House of Lords because it will pave the way for this powerful technology to be used in crop improvement rather than just research.

We are already behind much of the world in the application of precision breeding techniques and we are keen to see the Bill become law as soon as possible.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 28 October 2022.

New government support for the poultry industry has been announced today (Friday 28th October) to assist farmers and producers with the impacts of bird flu. The United Kingdom is dealing with its worst ever bird flu outbreak with over 200 cases confirmed across the country in the last 12 months.

Under the new plans, the Government will alter the existing bird flu compensation scheme allowing compensation to be paid to farmers from the outset of planned culling rather than at the end. This will allow us to provide swifter payments to help stem any cash flow pressures and give earlier certainty about entitlement to compensation. The payments better reflect the impact of outbreaks on farmers.

In consultation with the Food Standards Agency, an easement to marketing rules is also being introduced in England. The measures mean that farmers who breed turkeys, geese or ducks for their meat will have the option to slaughter their flocks early and to freeze these products, which can then be defrosted and sold to consumers between the period 28 November and 31 December 2022. This option will give farmers certainty over business planning.

We have a highly resilient food supply chain, producing over 11 million turkeys in the United Kingdom every year, with just under two thirds of these consumed over the Christmas period.

Farming Minister Mark Spencer said:

Farmers and poultry producers are facing real pressures as a result of this avian flu outbreak, and we know many are concerned about the impact on their flocks

We hope the practical solutions announced today will help provide greater financial certainty. We very much appreciate the continued cooperation from the sector as we battle this insidious disease and will continue to keep the situation under close review

Last week, the Chief Veterinary Officer introduced a national Avian Influenza Prevention Zone meaning that bird keepers must implement strict biosecurity measures to safeguard their flocks from this highly infectious disease. In addition to this, a regional housing measure remains in place across Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Essex, where keepers must house their flocks until further notice.

All bird keepers (whether they are pet birds, a commercial farm or just a few birds in a backyard flock) must remain vigilant and help prevent avian influenza by:

• cleanse and disinfect clothing, footwear, equipment and vehicles before and after contact with poultry and captive birds – if practical, use disposable protective clothing
• reduce the movement of people, vehicles or equipment to and from areas where poultry and captive birds are kept, to minimise contamination from manure, slurry and other products, and use effective vermin control
• keep records of mortality, movement of poultry and poultry products and any changes in production
• thoroughly clean and disinfect housing on a continuous basis
• keep fresh disinfectant at the right concentration at all farm and poultry housing entry and exit points
• minimise direct and indirect contact between poultry and captive birds and wild birds, including making sure all feed and water is not accessible to wild birds
• prevent access by poultry to ponds and watercourses and ensure that birds are kept in fenced or enclosed areas

Public health advice remains that the risk to human health from the virus is very low and food standards bodies advise that avian influenzas pose a very low food safety risk for UK consumers. Do not touch or pick up any dead or sick birds that you find and instead report them to the Defra helpline on 03459 33 55 77.