Julian Thirsk v The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Regulation 4(2) of the Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations 2015 (“the Regulations”) requires the Secretary of State to monitor the nitrate concentration in freshwaters over a prescribed period. The nitrate must be measured in order to identify water that is affected by pollution (or could be if the controls provided by the Regulations are not applied), and then to identify land which drains into those waters and that contributes to its pollution. If necessary, such land may then be designated as a “nitrate vulnerable zone” (“NVZ”).

On 28 March 2025 the Secretary of State sent written notice to the Appellant under regulation 5(3)(b) of the Regulations that one or more of their relevant holdings falls wholly or partly within an area that the Secretary of State has identified as an NVZ.

The Regulations define “a relevant holding” as land and any associated buildings used for growing crops in soil, or rearing livestock for agricultural purposes, that fall wholly or partly in an NVZ.

The Appellant has appealed against the notice under regulation 6(2)(a) of the Regulations on the grounds that part of the relevant holding (SE 5932 1130), as shown on the map accompany the appeal, does not drain into water which the Secretary of State has identified as polluted. This is known as a “Type A” appeal.

The Environment Agency has responded to the appeal on behalf of the Secretary of State. It confirms that the appeal is not opposed because all the land identified by the Appellant does not drain to a polluted water. The Environment Agency acknowledges that the local information on drainage patterns provided by the Appellant “refines and improves the understanding applied to identify the land draining to the polluted waters.”

The Environment Agency considers that the designations made by the Secretary of State should be amended to remove the land identified by the Appellant in this appeal from “NVZ ID number: S287”. Given this concession, the appeal is allowed.

Pursuant to regulation 6(3) of the Regulations, where the Tribunal upholds an appeal on a Type A appeal the Secretary of State must treat the relevant part of the holding in respect of which the appeal is upheld as not draining into the water concerned.