Judge calls for a ‘science based approach’ from Defra and highlights weakness of process (continue)
PestSmart – Welsh Water Project to prevent pesticide pollution rolled out across Wales (continue)
Farmers Weekly: The ban on metaldehyde slug pellets is being overturned after the High Court in London agreed with a challenge on the legality of the ban, and the pellets will now return to the market. The decision by former Defra secretary Michael Gove has been declared unlawful by the court and this overturns the December 2018 Defra ruling that withdrew from the market all products containing metaldehyde, with immediate effect, with their use on farm banned from 2020.
A Defra spokesman said that the legal challenge was based on how the decision making process was conducted, and it will now review this decision.
“We will retake the decision as swiftly as possible, taking account of the procedural points raised. Our priority is to protect people and the environment, and all decisions on pesticides are always based on the best available science,” the spokesman said.
Chiltern Farm Chemicals, the slug pellet making company which took the legal action to bring the Defra decision before the High Court, said its slug pellets would return to the market. “Metaldehyde is back on the market and we’ve reverted to where we were eight months ago,” said Philip Tavener from the company. Click here to read more
Welsh Water’s pesticide recovery scheme – PestSmart – rolled out across Wales
Our routine water monitoring programme has detected increasing traces of pesticides in areas we have never seen them before. While these levels are too low to pose a risk to those drinking the water, they are enough to risk breaching rigorous drinking water standards so we want to work with you to take action and address this issue together. By safeguarding and improving raw water quality before it gets to our water treatment works, we can avoid the need for using additional chemicals and energy to get your drinking water perfect.
This helps us to keep bills low and safeguards and protects the environment for generations to come. So we have created PestSmart, a project which encourages people to consider ‘smarter’ ways of weed, pest and disease control that do not impact on people, water or wildlife.
Working with farmers, growers, landowners and gardeners across Wales, we are helping people and communities to consider the way they manage their land to help safeguard raw water quality.
To help us deliver this work, we have been awarded almost £1 million by Welsh Government’s Rural Development Programme. This funding will allow us to expand PestSmart across Wales.