Scottish farmers have been given the green light to start repairing defences and clearing debris from fields ravaged by last week’s floods.
Standing in a frosty stubble field beside gaping holes in floodbanks on the River Ericht, Scottish Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said farmers should begin repairs as soon as is practical and promised relief from stringent EU cross-compliance rules and greening requirements.
“Where individual farmers are affected by flooding and feel that this will impact on their ability to meet greening requirements for the 2016 basic payment scheme year, they can seek relief from the rules if they write to their local area office within 15 days and provide details of the flooding and damage caused, and the measures they are unable to meet,” he said.
“Farmers have played an important role in sacrificing their farmland as flood plains to save towns downstream. They now need to get on and repair the damage caused to their land.”
The announcement that farmers can repair flood barriers without specific authorisation from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) is a sea change for the industry and was immediately welcomed by NFU Scotland and local farmers.
Ian McLaren of Cronan Farm, Coupar Angus, who has 100 acres of land under floodwater, told the minister that farmers were currently “in terror” of Sepa, and feared ending up in jail for taking the wrong action.
Mr Lochhead was adamant, however, that there should be no regulatory barriers to the restoration going ahead and Sepa chief executive Terry A’Hearn said the agency wanted to work closely with farmers on future flood prevention measures.
NFU Scotland president Allan Bowie said a change in attitude by Sepa was necessary to allow farmers to do the “necessary required activities on watercourses” to reduce the future flood risk to farmland, homes and businesses.