In rural areas like ours, there is a real need to balance food production with protecting the local environment and ensuring farming remains viable. Both matter, and both need to be properly reflected in policy.
There are already rules in place covering manure storage, spreading, and wider environmental impacts. These are intended to limit pollution and protect water and air quality. The previous Government introduced the Slurry Infrastructure Grant which supported farmers to build 6-month slurry storage and to cover stores with impermeable covers to reduce ammonia emissions.
I understand concerns about whether measures like this go far enough in practice, particularly where intensive sites are concentrated in one area, and my colleagues and I will be pressing Ministers to act with the urgency this issue requires.