FUW CLAIMS SUCCESS IN DRAINAGE BILLS ROW

THE Farmers' Union of Wales today revealed efforts they have made to persuade Environment Agency Wales (EAW) to cancel controversial claims of up to £17,000 sent to North-West Wales farmers for land drainage works have been successful.

Marshland farmers in parts of Anglesey, Meirionnydd and the Conwy Valley were up in arms last year when EAW issued demands - backdated over six years and ranging in value from £12 to £17,000 - for maintenance work carried out on drainage ditches.

Described as Internal Drainage District (IDD) payments, the bills came out of the blue and angered those who received them who claimed much of the ditch clearance work came to a stop in 2000, four years after responsibilities under the Land Drainage Act 1991 transferred to EAW from the now defunct National Rivers Authority.

FUW's Anglesey county branch raised the issue with EAW with the assistance of the union's land agents - Davis Meade Property Consultants Ltd - and landowners have just been informed that due to "a number of practical difficulties" EAW are cancelling all invoices issued in April 2011 for outstanding charges up to 31 March 2012.

"If you are one of the people who have already paid this bill you will receive a full refund in the near future," EAW stated.

Residents within the Malltraeth Marsh IDD on Anglesey met on numerous occasions since receiving their invoices back in May 2011 and formed a group to discuss the way forward and how to go about challenging the bills.

Group chairman Iolo Owen welcomed the news and said he was “extremely pleased at the way Davis Meade had challenged every aspect of the bills”.

He also thanked FUW Anglesey county executive officer Heidi Williams for administering all the meetings and discussions.

"This case proves that such agencies as the EA are not always in the right and, thankfully, common sense has prevailed on this occasion,” Mr Owen added.

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