A TEAM of officials from the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is to visit North Yorkshire tomorrow for a fact-finding mission to study the impact of environmental regulations on small enterprises.

Eight DEFRA officials will visit the county tomorrow and Friday at the invitation of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) to tour a selection of rural enterprises, including Todds Waste Management on the Thirsk Industrial Estate, an organic waste disposal unit at Park Barn Farm, Topcliffe, near Thirsk and a landfill site at Knapton, near Malton,

They will also stop over at Wensleydale Creamery, rope manufacturers, Outhwaite & Sons, Hawes; Dales Shoes, Richmond; and several farms, an abattoir, and a water treatment works at Yafforth, Northallerton. During the visits the officials will hear first hand how some are struggling to meet EC-driven environmental regulations.

The visit has been organised by the chairman of the FSB Dales Branch, Peter Pybus, a Thornton-le-Moor seed grain merchant who was invited to discuss the impact of environmental regulations on small enterprises with DEFRA officials in London last month.

Mr Pybus, who also sits on the Yorkshire and Humber area policy unit of the FSB, which has 11,500 members in the region, said: "Everybody wants to protect the environment, but what is mooted by officials in Brussels or London is often with little understanding of the difficulties facing rural enterprises. These DEFRA officials have soon to go to Brussels to discuss the possible impact of new legislation in the UK and, at our meeting in London, I suggested that they came up to North Yorkshire to meet people who run rural businesses to hear about some of the problems face to face.

"I said that this would help them to go to Brussels armed with practical knowledge about running a rural business at the sharp end and that they would represent us all the better for it. We are delighted that they have agreed to come." Among environmental issues in rural areas which concern DEFRA are the disposal of waste from farms, such as sheep dips; nitrates in soil, silage effluent and chemical and other waste disposal by rural businesses.

However, Mr Pybus said a major issue concerning the FSB, which has 450 members in its Dales Branch, is the rising cost of environmental liability insurance which is becoming prohibitive for small rural businesses or almost impossible to obtain.

Updated: 11:54 Wednesday, October 30, 2002