Nitrate Vulnerable Zone designations 2017 to 2020: rules and appeals
Find out if your land is in a nitrate vulnerable zone (NVZ) following appeal, and how the rules are being phased in if you’re in an NVZ for the first time.
Applies to England
Find out if your land is in an NVZ
Use the interactive map to find out if your land is in an NVZ.
Your farm may be completely or partly in an NVZ. NVZ boundaries are drawn around whole fields, so there are no fields that are only partly in an NVZ.
Restrictions apply to each field that’s in an NVZ.
Contact the Environment Agency if you have difficulty checking online or need a printed map.
Outcome of appeals
You can no longer appeal a decision to include land in an NVZ as part of the 2017 to 2020 designation process. The appeals process has finished and some land is no longer in an NVZ.
If your appeal was successful, you must still take steps to prevent water pollution.
Transitional arrangements
If your land was in an NVZ for the first time in 2017, you did not have to comply with NVZ rules straight away. The rules are being phased in from 1 January 2018 to 31 July 2019.
These transitional arrangements meant you did not have to comply with any NVZ legal requirements until 1 January 2018.
These arrangements also mean you have until 31 July 2019 to comply with some of the rules on:
- storing slurry and poultry manure
- spreading manufactured fertiliser
- equipment you can use to spread slurry
- spreading some types of organic manure
- separating slurry
See the guide to cross compliance in England 2018 for details of how these rules are being phased in. You’ll find the guidance you need under SMR 1: Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) on pages 39 to 48.
Contact the Farming Advice Service (FAS)
Contact FAS for information about using nitrogen fertilisers and manures in NVZs, and other cross compliance requirements.