I’ll be a panellist on Farmers Guardian’s live web discussion, answering all your questions about the Schmallenberg virus. Join the discussion on Friday, February 10 from 1pm.RPA continues to be hit by flooding chaos
THE Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is continuing to offer a severely reduced service due to the flooding in Cumbria.
The RPA’s Workington office is closed today (Monday, November 23) due to the difficulties staff are facing getting into work, affecting the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) and the agency’s call centre.
The agency is reduced to an answering service for all calls to BCMS. It is promising to call people to answer queries and ‘as soon as normal service resumes’ but is stressing that CTS online is ‘currently the best way of sending us information’.
The agency apologised to farmers for the delays in contacting it for BCMS and other queries.
“If you would like to leave a message for us to call you back, please do. If your query is not urgent, we recommend you call us later next week,” it said.
Farmers can still contact the agency for RLR Mapping Update issues and to agree new maps on 08000 743939. New maps can also be agreed by text message, fax and email.
The North West NFU reported that, beyond the problems with contacting RPA, it had received very few reports from farmers who had been badly affected by the floods.
Small numbers of farmers have lost livestock in the Cockermouth area but, at this stage, there do not appear to be any major problems with livestock, a spokesman said.
He said lost energy connections, feed for livestock and the collection of milk from the farmgate were all ‘potential problems’ for Cumbrian farmers. The NFU would ‘do all it can to help during these testing times’, he said.
River levels in Cumbria have now subsided and there is now just one ‘severe’ flood warning in place in the county, applying to parts of the River Eamont. The Environment Agency has downgraded three of the four severe flood warnings which were in place, although more rain is forecast.
“While conditions in Cumbria are improving, more heavy rain is forecast and one severe flood warning remains in place,” an Environment Agency spokesman said.
“We are urging people to remain vigilant and be prepared to take action if necessary. Anyone concerned about flooding should continue to check our website for more information or call our Floodline on 0845 988 1188.”
At least 25 roads and 16 bridges in Cumbria remain closed. Work to examine the safety of 1,800 bridges across the county is getting under way, after some bridges collapsed and other structures were weakened as a result of the flooding.
More than 20 flood warnings are in force across the UK -15 in England, six in Scotland and five in Wales.