Devon and Cornwall Soils Alliance Blackaton Brook – Business Case Brenden Hunter
December 2021
©Copyright Martin Bodman (CC BY-SA 2.0)
1 Introduction
The following report provides a brief business case overview of the findings from the feasibility study area, which is one of nine across the Devon and Cornwall region funded by the Water Environment Grant (WEG). These waterbodies fail the WFD for sediment related issues and these business cases provide evidence as to type and location of soil and sediment issues, degree of farm advice and grant required to support business, regulatory issues/failings and whether current farming practices within the catchment are aligned with inherent land capability.
2 Blackaton Brook
2.1 Background
Blackaton Brook falls within the Dartmoor National Park and is approximately 2110 ha (Figure 1). During the field observations undertaken for the feasibility study, it was confirmed that the Blackaton Brook suffers from pollution caused by soil erosion and sediment, which was linked to the historic and current agricultural practices observed within the catchment. The main sources of soil erosion and pollution were found to be coming into the Blackaton Brook via several sub-catchment streams, which includedamong others the ForderBrook andMoortown Brook, as well as farming practices occurring directly by the Blackaton Brook.
2.2 Deskbased study
In the initial stages of the feasibility study a review of the Devon and Cornwall Soils Alliance Blackaton Brook catchment pack1, was undertaken. In the main, the catchment pack was found to be a useful source of information in providing intelligence on:
• Geographical area to be surveyed;
• The main land cover and likely farm types;
• Soil types found within the catchment;
• River condition and likely pollution sources;
• Hydrological connectivity in terms of where the Blackaton Brook flowed, as well as the sources and flow pathways of the main headwater streams.
The farms identified within the Blackaton Brook catchment have a combination of those farmland types and generally can be grouped into one of three farm types as suggested by the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA 20051), including:
1. High moor farms;
2. Mid moor farms;
3. Farms on the fringes of the national park
Farmer knowledge within the catchment regarding land management and catchment specific issues varied. Some of the farms having involvement with the local commoners associations, are very aware of environmental issues relating to livestock farming on the moor, i.e. soil damage from over grazing or trafficking, and they are well versed in the restrictions imposed by the HLS scheme, and generally feel they had a duty to protect the moorland habitats. Any issues relating to the commoning areas are raised and addressed through the commoners association meetings, and Dartmoor Commoners Council, which is also a good place for knowledge sharing.
2.3 Literature summary
The following literature and information came to light during the course of this feasibility study:
Literature:
• Cumulus Consultants Ltd 2011. High Nature Value Farmland in Rural Development Policy: A Dartmoor Case Study;
• DNPA (2005) Farming in Dartmoor, Dartmoor Factsheet;
• The Dart & Teign River Improvement Project: A Catchment Restoration Fund Project 2015;
• Devon and Cornwall Soils Alliance (DCSA) - Blackaton Brook catchment pack 2020;
• Dartmoor Debates: Farming and Forestry Review Paper 2019;
• Defra June Agricultural Survey (2016). Available from:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statisticaldata-sets/structure-of-the-agricultural-industryin-england-and-the-uk-at-june
1 DNPA (2005) Farming in Dartmoor, Dartmoor Factsheet
Websites:
• https://www.dartmoorhillfarmproject.co.uk/;
• https://www.dartmoorcommonerscouncil.org.uk/index.php;
• https://www.dartmoorhillfarmproject.co.uk/;
• https://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/common_land.htm;
• https://scihub.copernicus.eu/dhus/#/home
2.4 Fieldwork findings
Several farms were found to be impacting the whole catchment, but these are evenly distributed. These farms/farmers were impacting on the tributaries feeding into the Blackaton Brook, and several farms had land distributed across the catchment so the impacts were not localised to a single sub-catchment stream. There is a clear difference in turbidity between the high rainfall period and low rainfall period, demonstrating that sediment pollution was an issue within the catchment, and likely to be the cause of the failure to meet the WFD targets. The identified causes of sediment pollution derived from a number of issues including:
- Outwintering of livestock in the wrong location and or on unsuitable soil type;
- Losses from steep eroded stone farm tracks and unconcreted yards;
- A lack of riparian fencing leading to bank side erosion;
- Historic compaction on the moorland areas;
- Insufficient or poorly managed manure and slurry storage and handling facilities.
2.5 Regulation
The Soil Mentor was asked a series of questions that related to the issues and failings they observed in the catchment. These questions and the Soil Mentors responses are outlined in Table 1
In the Blackaton Brook it was estimated that between 76-100% of the highlighted issues were classed as regulatory failings, when compared to the other catchments this was the highest percentage. When asked about enforcement of current regulations (Table 1 question 2), it was estimated that approximately 70% of the issues could be improved with better regulation. Meaning that approximately 30% of the issues would not be addressed with enforcement of regulations alone and a combination of approaches are required.
Of the issues highlighted in the feasibility report, what percentage of these issues would be classed as regulatory failings? E.g. SSAFO, FRFW, X compliance. Please note, this is for the % of issues highlighted, not the % of the whole catchment?
Would better enforcement of current regulations such as FRFW, X-compliance, NVZ work towards improving the issues highlighted?
2.6 Land capability and landuse type
Although there were issues in the catchment, according to the appointed Soil Mentor there was no evidence that the land use was not aligned with land capability. The land was suited to beef and sheep, and a lesser degree to dairy, however better land management/infrastructure is required.
2.7 Solutions and recommendations
In addition to better enforcement of regulations/presence of Environment Agency, several approaches were suggested by the Mentor, including:
- A program of farmer engagement to raise awareness around water quality issues, soil health and the regulations which the farmers must comply with;
- The program of engagement should be underpinned by funding streams to support the farmers in undertaking any necessary water capital works, or habitat management proposals;
- Additional investigatory works to establish the extent of suspected soil compaction on the moorland areas which appear to be increasing flood risk down-stream.
- Following this, if interventions are required, a further project could be implemented to address these issues, similar to the EA NFM Headwaters project that is already running in Dartmoor until 2021.
2.8 Estimated cost of remediation
The approximate costs of addressing the pollution issues in the catchment are shown in Table 2
Recommendation
Cost of suitably qualified farm advisor for 3 years @ 1 day per week.
Potential Cost of NFM interventions features on the moor.
Farm Interventions i.e. costs associated with capital works
2.9 Risks and barriers associated with solutions
Estimated cost
£35,000
£50,000
£720,000
Total cost £805k (medium)
The high impact risks associated with the approach outlined above identified by the Soil Mentor included:
- Lack of receptivity to engage with the EA;
- Resistance to changing practices;
- Practices could relapse without ongoing EA presence/engagement/enforcement.
2.10 Benefits of change
The key benefits identified by the Soil Mentor in the feasibility study were:
- Improved water quality and soil health, facilitated by improved farming practices, upgrading infrastructure where required, and remediating the likely historic compaction of the moor;
- Reducing flooding downs stream;
- Reducing costs associated with maintaining the public roads;
- Helping to support and maintain the farming traditions which have shaped the character of Dartmoor;
- Increased habitat and biodiversity, which also feeds into improved Natural Capital.
2.11 Lessons learnt
The main lesson learnt identified by the Soil Mentor in the feasibility study included:
Engage with the farmers from the outset: They have the local historically knowledge to understand the intricacies, and interdependencies which link together the local farming relationships, environments, soils, geography, economics, land types, and land uses, which exist. This is really important as this helps in getting to the root cause of issues identified.
Do your research: There is plenty of available literature which is freely available online which can help to fill knowledge gaps relating to an area, especially where a catchment falls within a national park.
Network with key stakeholders: Engaging with the Environment Agency in this case, was really important in understanding, their lack of recent involvement within the catchment,which
helped to shed some light on for example the general lack of farmer environmental awareness around water quality issues. Similarly, I spoke with the Chairman of one of the commoners associations, which really helped in understanding the local farmer interactions, land pressures, and likely barriers to change, within the catchment.
Try to gather all the facts before making assumptions: Gather all the relevant evidence, talk to the right people, and ask a lot of questions before forming a conclusion. This avoids jumping to conclusions about the cause of issues identified.