A TEAM of officials from the Department For Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is to visit North Yorkshire this week.

At the invitation of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), eight Defra officials will be on a fact-finding mission to study the impact of environmental regulations on small enterprises.

They will tour a selection of rural enterprises, including Wensleydale Creamery, Dales Shoes, in Richmond, an abattoir and a landfill site. During the visits, tomorrow and Friday, 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.

He said: "Everyone 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. 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.

"This would help them to go to Brussels armed with practical knowledge about running a rural business at the sharp end. We are delighted they have agreed to come."

Mr Pybus said a major issue concerning the FSB was the rising cost of environmental liability insurance which was becoming either prohibitive for small rural businesses, or almost impossible to obtain.

He said: "While we fully support moves to protect the environment, they must be practical. One of our members, an abattoir, must regularly pay £400 a load for their liquid to be disposed off - a huge burden for a small business. After this visit, we hope Defra will understand some of these issues far better."