£10m fund to build border control posts for live animal imports soon closes

The government's multi-million pound fund to increase capacity for live animal import checks for maritime trade routes in England closes tomorrow.

Eligible businesses can apply for up to £10 million to build a Border Control Post (BCP) for live animal imports from the EU.

The Animal Biosecurity Infrastructure Fund covers construction and building materials, buying land, staffing and other costs.

However, Defra has confirmed that it does not fund control points that are located in Kent.

From late 2024, new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks on live animal imports from the EU will be carried out at BCPs.

The aim of the fund is to increase capacity, support trade continuity and promote high standards of animal welfare and biosecurity for live animal imports.

Trade in live animals is seen as key to enabling UK livestock farmers to access and export high value breeding animals to the EU.

The UK imported an average of £65 million livestock between 2017-2019 and exported around £23 million over the same period.

The NFU said it welcomed the launch of the fund, as trade since Brexit had 'stagnated' due to a lack of reciprocal BCPs in the UK since its departure from the EU.

It said: "It is critical that the fund be used to establish BCPs which support alternative routes to the Dover - Calais crossing to provide options for importers, mitigate the risk of travel disruption and reduce road travel time for live animals."

Those interested in the fund must confirm with Defra that they intend to apply for funding, known as pre-qualifying, by 11:59pm on 20 December.