Guidance

Spreading organic manure on agricultural land: RPS 252

When you can spread organic manure, unavoidably produced, because there are no other feasible options.

• From: Environment Agency
• Published: 3 August 2021
• Last updated: 15 October 2021 — See all updates

This publication was withdrawn on 29 March 2022

This regulatory position statement expired on 1 March 2022 and is no longer current.

Check the current rules for farmers and land managers.

Applies to England

Documents

Spreading organic manure on agricultural land: RPS 252

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Spreading organic manure on agricultural land: RPS 252 – privacy notice

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Details

This regulatory position statement (RPS) applies to land managers. A land manager is anyone who has custody of, or the responsibility for, controlling agricultural land.

Regulation 4(1)(a) Reduction and Prevention of Agricultural Diffuse Pollution (England) Regulations 2018 requires that when you apply organic manure to agricultural land, the application must be planned so that it does not either:

• exceed the needs of the soil or crop on that land
• give rise to a significant risk of agricultural diffuse pollution

This RPS does not alter your legal obligations under the relevant legislation. However, if you follow the conditions in this RPS the Environment Agency will not normally take enforcement action where you have a plan to apply organic manure to agricultural land that may exceed the needs of the soil or crop on that land. The plan must not cause a risk of pollution.

Environment Agency statement – 25 August 2021

The Environment Agency has produced this RPS. It applies to Regulation 4(1)(a)(i) of the Reduction and Prevention of Agricultural Diffuse Pollution (England) Regulations 2018. Regulation 4 is also known as farming rules for water, rule 1. If you follow the conditions in this RPS, you can have a plan to apply organic manure to agricultural land that may exceed the needs of the soil or crop on that land provided there will be no risk of pollution.

There is a hierarchy of actions.

1. If you can follow farming rules for water, rule 1, then you do not need to use this RPS – carry on with your planned activities.

2. If you can follow the conditions in this RPS – tell the Environment Agency you are using this RPS as described in the ‘contact’ section, and carry on with your activities.

3. If you cannot comply with the conditions in this RPS, email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk or call 03708 506 506 (general enquiries). The Environment Agency will assess the risk of your activities. For this autumn, they will allow activities that will not cause significant risks (significant risk may result from repeated applications to the same field or spreading close to protected sites, such as Natura 2000 sites). You must not start your activities until the Environment Agency confirms you can do so.

The Environment Agency enforcement and sanctions policy sets out how they act proportionately when applying the law. This normally means working with farmers, setting out what they need to do to be compliant, rather than moving straight to sanctions. The Environment Agency will take regulatory action where appropriate, for example where activities result in a significant pollution incident.

Published 3 August 2021
Last updated 15 October 2021 + show all updates

1. 15 October 2021

   We have clarified that using this RPS does not alter your legal obligation under the relevant legislation but rather the Environment Agency's enforcement approach if the conditions in the RPS are followed.

2. 25 August 2021

   We have added an Environment Agency statement to the 'detail' section of this page to provide clarity on Regulation 4, also known as farming rules for water, rule 1. We have set out the hierarchy of actions for if land managers have a plan to apply organic manure to agricultural land that may exceed the needs of the soil or crop on that land.

3. 3 August 2021

   First published.