Quarter of applications to change field boundaries are rejected

Farmers may have been dissuaded by high rejection rates for their project applications

Screening by the DAFM is required for removing more than 500 metres of field boundary.

Applications for permission to restructure farms, or remove field boundaries have fallen from more than 100 per year before 2016 to well under 100, and as low as 54 in the year to April 2021.

The reduction in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) applications may point to reduced land reclamation work. However, farmers may also have been dissuaded by high rejection rates for their project applications. In the year to April 2021, the last period for which EIA outcomes were published, there was a rejection rate of about 25%.