Citation and commencement

1.  The Scheme may be cited as the Farm Nutrient Management Scheme (Northern Ireland) 2005 and shall come into operation on 16th January 2005.

Interpretation

2.  In this Scheme –

“application” means an application for a grant under Article 3(1) made in accordance with this Scheme;

“the Department” means the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development;

“slurry” means excreta produced by livestock whilst in a yard or building or a mixture consisting wholly or mainly of such excreta, bedding, rainwater and washings from a building or yard used by livestock or any combination of these, at a consistency that allows it to be pumped or discharged at any stage in the handling process.

Payment and amount of grants

3.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Scheme, the Department may make to any person a grant representing 40 per cent of any expenditure –

(a)to be incurred by him for the purposes of, or in connection with the carrying on of, an agricultural business;

(b)to be incurred by him after 26th January 2005 but before 30th November 2006;

(c)which is expenditure to which paragraph (2) refers;

(d)which is approved by the Department for the purposes of a grant under this Scheme; and

(e)which does not in aggregate exceed £85,000 for each applicant.

(2) This paragraph refers to expenditure which is to be of a capital nature or to be incurred in connection with expenditure of a capital nature and is incurred in respect of –

(a)the provision, replacement or improvement of –

(i)facilities (including safety fencing) for the handling and storage of manure, slurry or silage effluent;

(ii)fixed disposal facilities for slurry and silage effluent;

(iii)facilities (other than roofing) for the separation of clean and dirty water, where those facilities reduce the need to store slurry; or

(b)any work, facility or transaction (including conservation or amenity works) incidental to any matter referred to in sub-paragraph (a).

(3) Where it appears to the Department that expenditure, in respect of which an application has been made, is to be incurred partly for the purposes of or in connection with the carrying on of an agricultural business and partly for other purposes it may treat as being incurred for the purposes of or in connection with the carrying on of an agricultural business so much of that expenditure as it appears may be referable to the carrying on of that agricultural business.

(4) The Department shall not approve any expenditure unless the work, facility or transaction to which it refers complies with the requirements or prohibitions of the Schedule.

Financial limits

4.—(1) If, in view of the total amount of expenditure approved for the purposes of applications already accepted under this Scheme, the Department is at any time of the opinion that the financial resources which are available for payment of grant under Article 3(1) during any period are insufficient to satisfy any payment during that period which would result from the acceptance of any further application, it may suspend further consideration of any application received at the date of its decision but not yet accepted, or any application it may receive after the date of its decision, until such time as may subsequently be specified by it.

(2) If in view of the total amount of expenditure approved for the purposes of applications already accepted under this Scheme, it appears to the Department that no further financial resources will be available to satisfy any payments made in respect of further applications, the Department shall reject all further applications.

(3) Notice of a decision under paragraph (1) or (2) shall be published in the Belfast Gazette.

Restrictions on the making of grants

5.  The Department shall not make a grant under Article 3(1) –

(a)if the objective of the expenditure, in respect of which the application is made, is an increase in production for which no normal market outlets can be found;

(b)unless it is satisfied that the expenditure towards which the grant is to be made will result in some environmental benefit; and

(c)unless the requirements of Article 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No.1257/1999(3); are satisfied.

Applications for grant

6.—(1) Any application –

(a)shall be made in such form and manner and by such date as the Department shall determine, and

(b)shall include or be accompanied by all such particulars and information relating to the expenditure to which it relates as the Department may reasonably require, including, where specified by it, relevant documents and records.

(2) The Department shall inform an applicant in writing whether the application is accepted or not and, if it is not accepted, shall give the reasons.

Revocation

7.  The Farm Nutrient Management Scheme (Northern Ireland) 2004(4) is hereby revoked.

SCHEDULECONDITIONS UNDER WHICH GRANT IS PAYABLE

1.  The work, facility or transaction to which the expenditure relates shall not commence before the date the expenditure is approved.

2.  New and replacement structures to which the expenditure relates must be designed to have a minimum life of ten years (twenty years for those installations covered by the Control of Pollution (Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003) and which meet the requirements of the appropriate British Standards, namely BS5502 Parts 22 and 50 and BS8007.

3.  The expenditure shall not relate to machinery, other than –

(a)slurry separators and associated fixed pumps and pipework, and

(b)fixed pumps and associated pipework for transfer of slurry to other storage facilities.

4.  Applicants who are tenants must ensure that the work to which the expenditure relates, is permitted under the terms of their tenancy agreement, and if the tenancy agreement is for less than five years, must provide written confirmation, from their landlord, that the facility will be kept in agricultural use, at least until five years have elapsed from the date of the claim.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Scheme.)

These regulations revoke the Farm Nutrient Management Scheme (Northern Ireland) 2004, S.R. 2004 No. 498.

This Scheme allows the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to pay grant for the provision, and replacement of facilities to collect and store farm animal waste and farm effluent and for the separation of rainwater from farm waste.

The grant is available at a rate of 40% on the first £85,000 of eligible expenditure incurred by an agricultural business for this purpose.

The Scheme also allows for financial limits on the amount of grant payable and provides for the consideration of applications for grant during a given period to be suspended if those limits are breached. It also allows for applications for grant to be rejected once the financial resources available for the Scheme are exhausted.

Before grant is paid, the expenditure to which it relates must be approved by the Department and there are restrictions on the approval of certain types of expenditure and further restrictions on the making of grant (Article 3(4), 5 and the Schedule).

The procedure for claiming grant is determined by the Department (Article 6).