Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Extension for growers to submit water returns

The deadline has been extended to January 31.
The deadline has been extended to January 31.

Growers are being given an extra month to submit their water abstraction returns to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa).

The agency has extended the deadline for submitting the information to January 31 2020.

It said the extension had been given in recognition of external factors, such as extreme weather and Brexit preparations, impacting farmers, and also because an annual reminder to farmers about the regular December 31 deadline had been delayed.

“The data that water abstractors supply is really important in helping understanding the state of Scotland’s environment,” said Sepa chief officer Ian Buchanan.

He said the process, mandatory for all farmers with a water abstraction licence, was quick and simple. Growers are required to download and return a document from the Sepa website by post or email.

“We’re grateful to those who have already completed their returns or plan to do so by the end of December.” he said.

“For those who need a little more time, we’re here to help.

“We’ll be writing to abstractors to advise of the extra time and support available and our colleagues are here to help on 03000 99 66 99.”

NFU Scotland welcomed the extension and reminded all growers with abstraction licences to submit data before the end of next month.

Union environmental regulations policy manager Jenny Brunton said: “It is important that data returns are submitted to Sepa in order to allow them to make an accurate assessment of the impact of irrigation on watercourses.

“Even if no water has been abstracted for any period, a nil return must still be submitted to Sepa using the abstraction data returns form,” she added.

“We remind all Scottish growers that a failure to submit data returns is considered a non-compliance with the conditions of the licence and could affect payments under the Basic Payment Scheme or result in a Cross-Compliance inspection.”