Asked by: Lord Harper (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the release of beavers at Greathough Brook in the Forest of Dean, on the ability of the land to retain water and prevent flooding in nearby residential areas.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Forestry England worked with experts at the Beaver Trust to introduce beavers within an enclosure at the Forest of Dean. One of the aims of the project was to hold stormwater flow back to mitigate against future flooding downstream. Forestry England commissioned the University of Exeter to carry out an impact assessment relating to beaver activity and natural flood management which was published in 2020. This is publicly available at Hydrological Processes | Hydrology Journal | Wiley Online Library and a copy is attached to this answer.
The study found that the introduction of beavers had a beneficial effect on flow attenuation during storm events.
Asked by: Lord Harper (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the article entitled Farming Investment Fund – new slurry infrastructure grants coming in autumn 2022, published by his Department on 9 June 2022, when his Department plans to publish (a) further details and (b) guidance on how to apply for the slurry storage grant.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The Government has committed to launch a slurry infrastructure grant in autumn 2022. We will publish full guidance shortly.
Asked by: Lord Harper (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish a (a) management plan on protecting farmland in the context of his Department's decision to provide Eurasian beavers with legal protections in England and (b) long-term strategy for beavers.
Answered by Mark Spencer
On 2 September 2022, Defra and Natural England published joint guidance on GOV.UK on managing beavers and their impacts, where this is necessary. The guidance sets out a step-wise approach to management and provides information on actions that can be undertaken to protect farmland without a licence such as removing new dams and excluding beavers from certain areas. Natural England has also published information on how landowners can apply for licences to undertake other action, including removal of more established dams. This management regime provides effective options to managing potential issues with beavers, and is intended to minimise the burdens on land managers and farmers, ensuring the process is streamlined and easy to access.
We continue to develop our approach to the release of beaver, including ensuring that any applications to release the species consider and mitigate risks to farmland as appropriate, and that these projects have a local officer to provide advice and support to landowners.
A public consultation was held last year on the national approach to beaver reintroduction and management in England and the summary of responses has been published on GOV.UK. Recognising the range of responses and feedback received, we will continue to undertake further work with Natural England to develop our approach to the reintroduction of beaver in England. Further information, including on criteria for wild releases, will be published in due course.