With just
one month to go, the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) and its members are
pleading with the government to act swiftly and responsibly to secure the
future of environmental horticulture.
As of
today, the industry calls for business-critical information and details on the
costs, capacity, and capability of Border Control Points, as urgent questions
remain unanswered.
The
HTA has clearly and frequently set out the now imminent risks to the UK’s
horticultural businesses and urges immediate government intervention ahead of
the 30 April Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) changes.
The
sector seeks a solution allowing Border Control Posts (BCPs) to open while
sustaining the current Place of Destination (PoD) scheme and unlocking barriers
to Control Point access. This would enable BCPs and easements to be fully
tested, functioning, and accessible to businesses in the environmental
horticulture sector.
James Barnes, HTA Chairman: “Environmental horticulture imports
nearly £800 million of plants and plant material that services all stages of
production and the supply chain in the UK. The April changes turn on its head
how we currently operate. Being one month away and lacking information on the
fundamentals of how the UK border will work for plant movements is untenable,
particularly when you think there have been over four years to plan since
Brexit took place. This threatens the UK’s biosecurity and sector viability and
increases the likelihood of reduced choice or empty shelves just when we see
the peak time for people to prepare their gardens for summer.
"The
HTA and its members have made a huge amount of investment and upskilling on
trade, but without the details, we do not know how their business will operate
beyond 29 April. We are beyond too little, too late, and in planning for the
worst, hoping for the best territory. As a sector, we will be the largest
single user of Border Control Points, but it seems little heed has been given
to the hours of consultation. This is extremely disappointing for a sector
contributing £28.8 billion to GDP and employing nearly 700,000 jobs critical to
health, wellbeing, environment, and net-zero target delivery. We need urgent
action, and we hope the government shares our interests in successful and
secure trade.”
Adam Whitehouse, Robin Tacchi Plants: “The potential financial impact to the
industry created by the government’s determination to press ahead with plant
inspections at the new Border Control posts from 30 April cannot be
underestimated.
“We
speak regularly with our suppliers in the UK and on the continent. We are all
concerned that the delayed release of the Common User Charge (CUC), combined
with unknown waiting time charges from hauliers spending additional time at the
ports, will make the expense of importing plants unsustainable for many
traditional plant varieties.
“Loading,
offloading, and handling all different plant types and trees is a very skilled
process. It can take years to train a nursery operator to achieve the skill and
experience required to safely and efficiently handle the full range of plants
coming through the BCPs.
“Several
small nursery businesses have told me that it will no longer be feasible to
import their normal relatively small orders from abroad, given the additional
costs and potential delays.
“Our
interactions with the new Border Control Posts have been positive, and they are
keen to work with the industry to make the process run smoothly. However, there
are still so many questions they can’t answer about the process. We are
particularly concerned as we enter our main import period when many small plugs
are being delivered to the nursery. These small plants cannot survive sitting
in lorries for even short periods or the various likely temperature changes.
“I
haven’t met anyone in the industry that doesn’t think we should protect our
borders from potential pests and diseases entering the UK; we take biosecurity
seriously. However, there must be some common sense that also protects the
horticultural industry. A delay in the new BCPs being brought in
(keeping the POD system in place) to a time in the year when the imported
plants are much reduced would seem a good compromise. This allows the
businesses time to process the additional CUC charges and work with our
suppliers for a more streamlined launch.”
Rachel Blakey, Plants Limited: “My biggest fear is that with the
introduction of BCPs less than five weeks away, the industry is still in the
dark over the new additional costs involved. How can we even start to quote
planting projects after this date when we have no clue from the government
whether we will be charged per consignment or per commodity code. Our IPAFFS
declarations vary from pennies to hundreds of plants per commodity line. On
lower value lines, the talk of charging up to £43 a line would make it
impossible and unaffordable to import from our European suppliers to complete
orders.
“I
don’t believe the current BCPs will be equipped and experienced in the current
time scale to deal with the flow of traffic at peak season or to handle the
larger Italian loads and mature trees for inspection. The PoD system works for
the industry, enabling nursery owners with years of experience in plant health
and tree handling to unload their own consignments. On full loads of mature
trees and Italian stock, this can take as long as 5-6 hours. To think BCPs are
planning to unload, inspect plants, and reload consignments with no damage to
goods, I believe, is asking the impossible. Currently, when trees and shrubs
reach us, they are kept in our own safe Bio-security environment, where it is
in our best interest to look after plants and ensure they are kept in tip-top
condition until APHA inspect or releases them. The thought of my precious load
of plants sitting at the docks out of my control makes me extremely nervous.
“I did
initially apply to become a Control Point but was turned down at the very first
stage. After doing further research on the size of the building involved to
comply, we wouldn’t even start to get planning permission at our site in
Chobham—nor can I see the cost implications being viable to us when we still
have no indication of additional importation costs post 30 April.
“As an
industry, it is in all our interests to protect pests and diseases entering the
UK; I believe the current system works until we are proven that BCPs are up and
running and practically capable of keeping the movement of plants into the UK
with the least disruption. I believe a soft approach to the introduction would
be in all our interests until we all have the confidence in the system and to
readdress/reevaluate in 18 months how successful the BCP system is for our
industry.”
Peter & Helleentje Walker, Wack’s Wicked Plants:
“We import plants from the
Netherlands and Italy several times a year, usually at the start of the season,
while we are waiting for our own plants to develop. Having experienced other
changes since Brexit, we are not overly confident that rolling out the BCPs
without retaining the PODs is going to go smoothly, especially at the height of
the season. Why not phase it in and after September?
“To
give some examples: Software changes, including PEACH (which required an
ancient internet explorer, which was not mentioned anywhere), and the new CITES
software (Pegasus, I believe) rolled out at the height of the season last year
with what sounded like simultaneous training and a live system. Not to mention
the sudden application of CITES without informing the people this would affect.
We heard about it from our suppliers!
“So
far, we have not been told of the additional stevedore costs; we have not heard
anything about potential cross-contamination. Our plants are fairly pest- and
disease-free; could our plants be destroyed because of cross-contamination in a
BCP? Who takes the risk for that? Is there a compensation scheme in place? What
about time scales? What happens if it all backs up? Are more trucks let through
uninspected with potential diseased plants, or are plants simply going to die
on a truck waiting to be unloaded? Again, at whose cost/risk. Again, is there a
compensation scheme in place?
“Some
of our plants (despite being tissue culture plants) fall under CITES, and so
far, every delivery has been held at the border despite all the paperwork being
in order. Are we facing even more delays as the trucks are caught in long
queues waiting to be unloaded?
“So
for us, as a tiny nursery, we have had to decide to combine all orders we would
potentially have this year into one big delivery, taking place at the end of
March. We have had to invest in a polytunnel because these plants come from a
heated greenhouse. We do not have electricity on our nursery so as a minimum
they need cover. The risk is huge, as the plants are used to a heated
greenhouse and may go back into dormancy if the weather is poor. The layout is
enormous for us, and we won’t recoup this money until summer at the earliest.”
