Drought and wildfire: why your MP needs to hear from you
As dry conditions continue to affect land managers across the UK, your voice can help strengthen calls for faster government action
The current drought is not just being felt by farmers and landowners – it’s affecting everyone across the country, and will continue to do so for some time.
The CLA has been lobbying behind the scenes on this issue. While ministers appear supportive, the Whitehall machine is exceptionally slow. The government needs to show a sense of urgency that is simply absent at present. We need your help.
What can be done?
We have identified three lobbying priorities and are asking members to contact their MP to promote them:
- Reform permitted development rights and the abstraction licensing system to make it easier for farmers to build on-farm reservoirs
- Ensure that all aspects of a reservoir and associated equipment can qualify for full expensing or the £1m annual investment allowance
- Allow land managers to conduct prescribed burning without a licence for each individual burn site, including on designated sites
The CLA is promoting more targeted policies at a technical level to deliver these headline priorities, but these are our core aims to support rural businesses and communities. They would resolve some of the most pressing problems: the speed of licensing decisions, the cost of infrastructure projects and restrictions on the volume of water that can be abstracted.
How can you play your part?
To help, please write to your local MP and include:
- Your name and address – MPs will only respond if they know you are a constituent
- Explain how drought, wildfire and/or abstraction restrictions are affecting your business
- A request that they promote these policy ideas to government
Find your local MP here.
If you need further assistance, please contact the External Affairs team at externalaffairs@cla.org.uk.
Have your say on farm reservoirs
To help push legislation that makes farm reservoirs easier and quicker to build, your input can go a long way. By providing us with genuine data in our short survey below, we can show the government that a change to the planning and abstraction licensing system is needed.
