Defra has launched a consultation on new rules to help protect the environment from agricultural damage.
Aimed only at farmers and others managing agricultural land, the proposed new regulations will kick-in when work is likely to significantly affect the environment.
Defra says the new policy will work by making the existing Environmental Impact Assessment rules easier to comply with, but will also create new rules governing the restructuring of rural land holdings, including moving or adding hedges, walls and ditches as well as the creation or filling-in of lakes and reservoirs.
Under the proposed new policy, anyone wishing to carry-out such changes will have to gain permission from the newly created Natural England Agency, who will then decide whether an environmental impact assessment is required. Upon assessment, the agency will decide whether the work can proceed.
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