
2014 No. 307
Environmental Protection
The Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014
Made 11th December 2014
Coming into operation 1st January 2015
The Department of the Environment and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, being departments designated  for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972( in relation to the environment, acting jointly in exercise of the powers conferred upon them by that section and the Department of the Environment in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Article 32 of the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997( and, in accordance with Article 32(3) of that Order, the Department of the Environment having published a notice indicating the effect of these Regulations and having taken into consideration the representations made to it in accordance with the notice, make the following Regulations.
PART 1 Preliminary
Citation and commencement
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Purpose of and application of Regulations
2 
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Interpretation
3 
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PART 2 General
Duty of the controller to prevent water pollution
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Duty of the controller to comply with these Regulations
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Exemptions granted by the Department
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PART 3 Prevention of water pollution from the application of fertilisers
Periods when the land application of fertiliser is prohibited
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Requirements as to the manner of land application of fertiliser to any agricultural land
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General measures governing the limits on land application of nitrogen fertiliser
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Measures governing the limits on land application of nitrogen fertiliser to grassland
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Measures governing the limits on land application of nitrogen fertiliser to land other than grassland
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Derogation from the measures governing the limits on land application of livestock manure
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Measures governing the limits on land application of organic manures with a high proportion of phosphorus
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PART 4 Storage requirements
General obligations as to storage facilities for livestock manure and silage effluent
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Obligations as to livestock manure storage capacity on pig and poultry enterprises
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Manner of storage of slurry
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Manner of storage of farmyard manure and location of storage facilities
17 
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Manner of storage of poultry litter and location of storage facilities
18 
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Manner of storage of dirty water
19 
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Calculation of livestock manure storage capacity
20 
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Making and storage of silage
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PART 5 Measures relating to land management
Cover in winter
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Crop management
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Crop management for derogated holdings
24 
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PART 6 Record keeping and compliance monitoring
Type of records required
25 
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Duty of the controller not to provide false or misleading information
26 
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PART 7 Enforcement
Enforcement
27 
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Notices
28 
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Appeals against notices requiring works etc.
29 
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Offences
30 
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Penalties
31 
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PART 8 Powers, duties and functions of the Departments
Reporting
32 
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Reviewing
33 
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PART 9 Miscellaneous
Transitional provisions
34 
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Consequential amendments
35 
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Revocations
36 
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Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on 11th December 2014
John Speers

A senior officer of the
Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of the Environment on 11th December 2014
Dave Foster

A senior officer of the
Department of the Environment

SCHEDULES
SCHEDULE 1
Criteria for nutrient management

Regulations 3(2), 9(2) to (5), 10,11, 12(4) and (7), 13(2),20(3) and (6) and 25(2)

Table 1a
Regulations 9, 12 and 20 - Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) excretion rates for grazing livestockLivestock type Nitrogen (N) produced per head per year (kg N/yr) Phosphorus (P) produced per head per year (kg P/yr)
Cattle
Dairy cow 91 17
Dairy heifer (over 2 years) 54 10
Dairy heifer (1-2 years) 47 7.9
Beef suckler cow (over 2 years) 54 10
Breeding bull 54 10
Cattle (over 2 years) 54 10
Cattle (1-2 years) 47 7.9
Bull beef (0-13 months) 30 7.5
Bull beef (6-13 months) 23 5.8
Calf (0-1 year) 19 4.7
Calf (0-6 months) 7.0 1.7
Calf (6-12 months) 12 3.0
Sheep
Ewe (over 1 year) 9.0 1.0
Ram (over 1 year) 9.0 1.0
Lamb (0-6 months) 1.2 0.3
Lamb (6-12 months) 3.2 0.3
Lamb (0-1 year) 4.4 0.6
Deer
Deer (red) 6 months - 2 years 12 2.0
Deer (red) over 2 years 15 4.0
Deer (fallow) 6 months - 2 years 7.0 1.0
Deer (fallow) over 2 years 13 2.0
Deer (sika) 6 months - 2 years 6.0 1.0
Deer (sika) over 2 years 10 2.0
Horses
Horse (over 3 yrs) 50 9.0
Horse (2-3 yrs) 44 8.0
Horse (1-2 yrs) 36 6.0
Horse (under 1 yrs) 25 3.0
Donkey / small pony 30 5.0

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SCHEDULE 2
Requirements for slurry storage systems

Regulation 16(1)
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SCHEDULE 3
Requirements for silos

Regulation 21(1)(a)
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SCHEDULE 4
Risk assessment for fertiliser application to steeply sloping land

Regulation 8(2)(f)
10 
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