Legislation & Regulation

New regulations for selling firewood for domestic use

As from 1 May 2021 there are new rules for selling firewood for use in domestic heating appliances in England.    You can only supply or sell wood fuel in volumes of less than 2 cubic metres if it is certified as ‘Ready to Burn’. This confirms it has a moisture content of 20% or less.  The Ready to Burn certification scheme applies to:

• firewood in single retail bags
• firewood supplied as a bulk delivery in loose volumes of less than 2 cubic metres
• wood briquettes in single retail bags
• wood briquettes supplied as a bulk delivery in loose volumes of less than 2 cubic metres

If you’re a small-scale wood producer who supplied less than 600 cubic metres of wood between 1 May 2020 and 30 April 2021, you’ll have until 1 May 2022 to comply with the new Ready to Burn certification scheme.  Read more on this page.  

Cross Compliance in 2021

You must meet all of the cross compliance rules throughout the whole year to receive all of your rural payments.  The RPA is removing duplication with existing guidance about some of the cross compliance rules. They are doing this by outlining the cross compliance rules and then linking to the detailed rules themselves on GOV.UK and other websites.   There are also some changes to how cross compliance runs. These includes inspections and enforcement actions the RPA will take if you do not meet the rules.

To read the Cross Compliance rules for 2021 please visit this page.

To read the changes to Cross Compliance for 2021 please visit this page.  

Updated information on riparian rights

Updated information on your responsibilities and rules to follow for watercourses on or near your property, and permissions you need to do work around them, have been placed on the Gov.uk website. Visit the link below to view the information.

Warwickshire re-classified as fully in the Edge Area for TB

Following a public Defra TB consultation held in 2016, and an informal consultation held in October 2017, Defra has announced enhanced cattle measures in the Edge Area; which will take effect from January 2018.
The changes from January 2018 include re-classification of Edge Area counties. The following part Edge, part High Risk Area split counties will be re-classified as fully in the Edge Area
Warwickshire and Oxfordshire
East Sussex, Derbyshire and Cheshire

Reminder on water abstraction licences

If your current water abstraction licence is due to expire, and you want to continue to abstract, you need to apply for a new licence at least 3 months before the existing licence expires.
For more information on applying for a water abstraction licence, please visit the website below.

Dewlap tags

Please be reminded that Dewlap tags, which are inserted through the dewlap of cattle, are legally classed as a mutilation (Animal Welfare Act 2006). Using the dewlap tag is therefore illegal and if farms are found to be using these tags at an RPA or APHA inspection it will be considered a rectifiable breach and will incur a penalty.