RED tape which stands between landowners and the completion of waterway maintenance work on their land in West Oxfordshire could be cut under an Environment Agency scheme.

Tributaries of the Thames around Bampton, Kelmscott and Grafton, and surrounding villages, are part of a pilot project being run by the organisation.

At the moment, riparian owners – responsible for water courses on their land – have to fill out forms and wait weeks for a reply from the agency if they want to do repairs.

But the pilot project will involve the agency doing the paperwork on behalf of landowners. It has been welcomed by farmers.

Peter Collins, an operations manager for Oxfordshire with the agency, said: “With this pilot project the EA is being proactive in going out to landowners and community groups.

“We will tell them the kind of constraints they will be working with and help them with the process.

“As long as they can assure us they can work in a sustainable manner, they can go ahead.

“Essentially we want to help riparian owners to help themselves.

“In the past if people wanted to do maintenance work, they would need consent.

“We are looking at ways to make that simpler.”

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  • Environment Secretary Owen Paterson

The project has been welcomed by the National Farmers Union. NFU national deputy president Meurig Raymond said: “I am pleased that the Environment Agency and Defra are seeking to reduce red tape and make it easier for farmers to maintain watercourses themselves.

“Members have found the existing consenting process difficult, unclear and frustrating.

“When the EA attended the NFU council meeting in January this year, members called for a basic set of rules to allow farmers to undertake such work without compromising the environment.

“These pilot projects offer an opportunity to learn how this will work in practice and what further support farmers need to avoid a repeat of the flooding we saw in 2012.”

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, pictured, added: “I want to make it as simple as possible for landowners to carry out work to protect their land.

“Watercourse maintenance can reduce the risk of flooding, enhance the environment and improve water quality.

“These pilots will make sure that people who want to carry out this work can do so without getting tied up in red tape.”