Slurry grants to help farmers and improve water quality welcomed by North Devon MP

Grants to help farmers deal with slurry storage and reduce pollution have been extended into parts of the region and welcomed by North Devon MP Selaine Saxby – but she says more can be done.

The latest Slurry Infrastructure Grant scheme has been increased by Defra to cover parts of North Devon and Torridge, including the Combe Martin catchment area, which in previous years has had issues with bathing water quality.

Ms Saxby has called for more support for farmers to help them with slurry storage, but has welcomed the expansion of the grant scheme to cover more of the local area, including the Taw and Torridge Estauray.

She said: “I have spoken to many farmers who are desperate to apply for this support and having talked about this and written to the Secretary of State to specifically prioritise North Devon for this round, I am pleased to see that some catchment areas are included in round two.

“It will not be enough as these schemes are heavily oversubscribed but encouragingly 30 per cent of the grants from round one was not allocated in the specific designated areas. So please, even if you are outside these areas, do apply.

“We have seen what can be done locally in Combe Martin as part of the wider ‘upstream thinking’ project but there is still more to do and our responsible local farmers need more support and more access to well supported grant schemes like this.”

Combe Martin has historically had poor bathing water quality but it has seen great improvements in recent years, thanks to continued work and campaigning by the Combe Martin Water Watch Group.

This has led to investment by South West Water to treat sewage but also work by the Environment Agency and others to help local farmers.

Slurry runs off farmland into the River Umber and so to the sea, which contributes to poor water quality, as does human waste and dog fouling.

But measures to help farmers have included planting thousands of trees, funding some 8.5km of fencing, restricting livestock from drinking from the stream and providing alternative drinking sources and clean-up of farmyard dirty water systems across 28 farms.

As of November 2022, the bathing water at Combe Martin beach was classed as ‘good’.

Ms Saxby added: “When we talk about water quality there is a tendency to focus on what our water companies are doing, but land and road run off contributes far more pollution throughout the course of the year.

“After Environment Agency inspections in sensitive catchment areas in 2022/23, 70 per cent of farms were found to be non-compliant.

“This is not always, in fact rarely the farms’ fault; we all want better water quality, but farmers need help to do what I know they want to do in making the land they manage sustainable and profitable.

“These grants are vital, and they will help, but so will working with DEFRA, South West Water, the Environment Agency, The Rivers’ Trust, Devon Wildlife Trust and the community.”