Farm wildlife at risk as cross compliance rules end, charities warn

Rivers and hedgerows are at increasing risk of damage as the government fails to enshrine basic protection for nature on farms, wildlife campaigners warn.

Cross compliance rules which protected hedgerows and stopped farmers from causing excessive river pollution ended on 31 December 2023.

Environmental charities the National Trust, RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts are calling for immediate action to fill the gaps left by these protections.

The regulations had to be followed by farmers in order to receive subsidy payments between 2005 and 2023.

Rules included not farming the land right up to the edge of rivers to ensure farm pollution and soil was not washed into the water – as well as protecting hedgerows and maintaining green cover on soils.

Following Brexit, the UK government announced these rules would cease to exist after 31 December 2023 and be replaced by new UK ones.

However, Defra has not confirmed if protections will be maintained, with wildlife campaigners warning the absence of rules means that farmers are free to cut hedges in the spring and summer which risks harming nesting birds.

It could also mean that more farm pollution and soil is washed into rivers, according to the three charities.

Rosie Hails, science director at the National Trust, said it was vital that Defra addressed this regulatory gap with urgency.

She said: “Ending cross compliance rules without sufficient replacement provisions places nature, water courses and historic hedgerows at increased risk.

"This is because some farmers may choose to withdraw from important practices such as providing buffers around watercourses, maintaining soil organic matter or taking action to minimise soil erosion.

"Farmers might also decide to trim hedges later in the spring and earlier in the autumn with impacts for birds and other wildlife."

In a response about a regulatory gap in August 2023, Defra stated that "the majority of rules under cross compliance are already in domestic law".

However, the removal of cross compliance from 1 January 2024 leaves regulatory gaps across hedgerows, soil cover and watercourse buffer strips that are not covered by existing regulation.

Defra issued a consultation on hedgerows in 2023, but delays in the government’s response mean that regulatory gaps between 1 January and the bringing in of new protections are now inevitable.

Barnaby Coupe, land use policy manager of the Wildlife Trusts, warned the situation was desperate.

"The UK government has ripped up important rules that help protect hedgerows and require buffer strips to prevent river pollution," he said.

"This danger is compounded by low levels of uptake into new farming schemes which incentivise only the most basic green practices on farm, leaving nature at a net loss.

It follows a report by the RSPB which found that even with high uptake of new farming schemes, over 120,000km of hedgerows could be at risk due to the removal of cross compliance.