Selaine Saxby, MP for North Devon, has welcomed the extension of the Slurry Infrastructure Grant into North Devon.
The Slurry Infrastructure Grant forms part of the Government’s manifesto commitment to invest £2.4 billion per year in farming for the rest of this Parliament. The grant is also a key component of the government’s Plan for Water which sets out more investment and stronger regulation to tackle every source of water pollution.
The scheme offers cattle and pig farms grants of £25,000 - £250,000 to upgrade their slurry storage, helping farmers to make better use of organic fertilisers while cutting pollution and their input costs.
Round 2 has been significantly improved based on feedback from farmers and industry, with new items and flexibilities designed to support different farm models and increase environmental outcomes.
Selaine Saxby, MP for North Devon, said:
“I encourage any farmer needing to improve their slurry storage to submit an online application. The platform has been designed to be simple to use and gives our farmers an upfront estimate of how much grant they could get.
Depending on the level of demand, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) may need to prioritise applications. If necessary, RPA will shortlist projects in areas identified as needing urgent action to reduce water and air pollution from farming. In North Devon these priority areas include the River Caen and the River Umber catchment areas, as well as much of the Taw and Torridge estuaries. Even if you are not in one of these priority areas please do still apply. There will be a further round in 2024.”
You can view the priority areas by selecting Slurry Infrastructure Grant – Round 2 on DEFRA’s MAGIC map https://magic.defra.gov.uk/magicmap.aspx which will show you all of the grants available to farmers and landowners across the full range of the governments environmental and land management schemes.
Ms Saxby added:
“As we seek to improve the water quality of not only our bathing beaches, but all our bodies of water, it is vital that we utilise all the tools available. Improving land run off and holding water back from entering our combined sewer system will take time and investment and I wholeheartedly welcome this additional investment into North Devon to not only help our farmers but improve our water quality.”
