Major increases to Natural Resources Wales’ (NRW) charges are set to be introduced despite extended protestations from the farming industry.
NRW will roll out new regulatory fees and charging regime tomorrow (1 July), including a hike in the fees charged to farmers for many new permits and permit variations.
Among the price rises are a ten-fold increase in the cost of new applications to £3,728 for land spreading of spent or unused sheep dip.
NFU Cymru said it was 'extremely disappointing' that despite concerns from farmers, NRW - Wales' environmental regulatory watchdog - had 'persisted' with the fee hikes.
Changes to permits for farming installations for the rearing of pigs and poultry will also be introduced, with the cost of new applications rising from £7,322 to £9,270. The cost of permit variations will shoot up from £388 to £5,562.
And there will be a 6% increase for a number of the annual fees NRW charges to recover the costs of monitoring and assessing compliance with permit conditions was introduced in April.
After engaging with its membership, NFU Cymru submitted a 21-page response to NRW’s Strategic Review of Charges (SROC) consultation, which asked for a justification for the increases.
The union also questioned the timing of the changes, as the Welsh farming industry continues to face the sustained impact of significant inflationary pressures.
NFU Cymru rural affairs board chairman, Hedd Pugh said: “Welsh government has approved these staggeringly expensive proposals with the changes due to be applied from this week.
“It will be difficult for many farms to absorb these new higher costs imposed by NRW at a time when the legacy of those well-publicised rises in input costs will continue to impact."
Mr Pugh went on to warn that news of the fee hikes would be a 'double blow' for farmers across Wales.
He said: “NFU Cymru fully appreciates that NRW has a duty to recover its costs, but the scale of some of these rises is hard to justify.
"It is regrettable that the regulator hasn’t been able to focus on becoming more efficient and streamline the application and delivery of the charging scheme to reduce the costs to fee payers.
"We feel that the set charges could well run the risk of disincentivising best practice and hinder on-farm investment and diversification opportunities as the costs have now simply become too prohibitive.”
