Westcotts helps Devon farmer win landmark NVZ appeal

Westcotts’ agricultural team has supported a mid Devon farmer in successfully challenging the designation of his land within a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ).

John Clapp, who farms at Hartnoll Farm near Tiverton, had appealed against the continued classification of his land within NVZ G18 following the latest NVZ review. A tribunal has now ruled in favour of the farmer in his appeal against Defra, concluding that the decision to retain the designation was not supported by sufficiently robust evidence.

Mr Clapp’s mixed arable and beef farm lies on the edge of the designated area within the Exe and Culme catchment. Over the past 16 years he has implemented a range of measures designed to reduce nitrate leaching from his business, including reducing livestock numbers, exporting manure, lowering fertiliser use and establishing buffer zones and winter cover crops.

Despite these efforts, the farm remained within the NVZ boundary after the most recent review in 2025. Frustrated that the designation had not changed, Mr Clapp asked Janice Radford at Westcotts, to examine whether there were grounds to challenge the decision.

Janice is a Farm Business Consultant at Westcotts, working within the Douglas Green Consulting team, with extensive experience in dairy consultancy and farm management.

After reviewing the available data, Janice identified a number of areas of concern regarding the evidence used to support the designation, including:

• The limited number of groundwater samples used to justify the NVZ designation across a very large area
• The timing and distribution of sampling points, which raised questions about whether the data provided a representative picture of water quality
• Sewage works around the farm had increased their pumping hours by 300% in just the past three years – a total of 9,559 hours in 2024

The tribunal ultimately allowed the appeal, concluding that the Secretary of State’s decision to continue identifying the groundwater as polluted was wrong on the evidential basis relied upon in this case.

One key issue examined during the appeal was the level and distribution of water sampling used to justify the NVZ designation. Evidence presented during the case showed sampling levels have reduced significantly over time.

In the NVZ area covering mid Devon, the designation relied on results from around 20 groundwater samples across an area of more than 700 km². Only six of those samples exceeded the nitrate threshold used to define polluted water.

The tribunal also heard evidence that groundwater samples in the area were typically taken during winter months when nitrate leaching risk is highest, meaning the data could represent a worst-case scenario rather than year-round conditions.

The panel noted that the amount of groundwater sampling had declined significantly over time and that the number of sampling locations within the NVZ area was limited. It concluded that relying on such a small number of results to classify such a large groundwater body as polluted was not a sound method for determining representative water quality.

Evidence was also presented on wider changes in agricultural practices in Devon, including reductions in livestock numbers and declining fertiliser use in recent years.

Following consideration of the evidence, the tribunal ruled that the NVZ designation should not have been maintained.

Mr Clapp said that while the decision removes his farm from the NVZ designation, he has no intention of reversing the environmental improvements he has made.

He said: “Now that I am out of the NVZ area I am not going to reverse the good management practices I have been making, because I care about the environment and the impact my business has on it. And I still need to make sure I comply with the Farming Rules for Water. But I do want to increase the use of my home-produced manure so that I can buy in a bit less artificial fertiliser and not incur the massive costs of exporting manure out of the NVZ area.

“I would like to thank Janice and the team at Westcotts for their support and the attention to detail which enabled us to present a robust, well-evidenced and ultimately successful legal argument.

“I hope the case will encourage a broader discussion about how NVZ designations are reviewed and how different sources of nitrogen pollution are assessed.”

Janice Radford, who represented Mr Clapp at the hearing alongside colleague Douglas Green, said: “Farmers across the region are making significant changes to reduce nutrient losses from agriculture, at the same time as population growth and other non-agricultural sources are increasing nitrogen pressures in some catchments. This case highlights the importance of ensuring that designations and the evidence supporting them reflect local conditions, and that all nitrate contributors are regulated.”