Farming Recovery Fund

We wrote in December that the Farming Recovery Fund was open to those in Cumbria and north Lancashire affected by the flooding before Christmas.  Following further innudations, the scheme has now been extended to Northumberland, Yorkshire and all parts of Lancashire.  The Farming Recovery Fund provides grants of between £500 and £20,000 to help towards restoring agricultural land.  The scheme is open to those who were affected by the flooding which took place on 4^th to 9^th and 25^th to 26^th December.  Claimants must also be an ‘Active Farmer’.  The closing date for applications has been extended to 1^st April.  More information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-for-the-farming-recovery-fund-frf. 

Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference the Environment Secretary Liz Truss outlined a proposal that farmers would be able to dredge watercourses adjoining their land up to 1.5km long without requiring permission.  Further details of the plans are awaited.  The Government has also announced that a further £40m will be added to the funding available to recover from storms Desmond and Eva, bringing the total to nearly £200m.  Finally, there seems to be some momentum builidng behind proposals to pay farmers to let their land flood in order to protect built-up areas.  Any formal scheme seems some way off, and it is not clear how this initiative fits in with allowing farmers to drege watercourses.