The Horticultural Trades Association ( HTA ) has written to governing ministers with its learnings two hebdomad into the novel edge transcription . The key border change being the all-night shift on 2 February 2025 from Place of Destination ( POD ) checks to Border Control Points ( BCPs ) and Control Points ( CPs ) . The HTA state that the government ’s ' pragmatic approach ' means a very humbled spirit level of works wellness inspections , risking biosecurity , hiked costs of spell , and on-going organisation issues causing care and mount resourcefulness burdens .
The HTA ’s varsity letter to Environment Minister Lord Douglas Miller OBE set out asks on the here and now , including system jam , engagement on cost , limpidity on data and a plan for the pragmatic approach shot to give industry reassurance on the border . The missive fail further and seeks to ensure that along with current challenge being address , the long - term motivation to have a plan to address BCP capacity and sphere access to easements , such as AOS or a trusted bargainer scheme , are also turn in . The HTA calls on ministers to convene a meeting of those postulate and impacted by the young border changes .
Fran Barnes , Chief Executive of the HTA , commented:“We know many in the sector shift their import to cope the risks of delay and hoo-hah in the early day of the unexampled change . We are thwarted that we are still on mean solar day one check horizontal surface today and see system issues and challenges that are ongoing . Well - reported outages are having a knock - on effect on the flora trade and on the ramping up of check , and they are do confusion and a lack of assurance in the border , its operations , and biosecurity .
" Many across the sphere still do not cognise , and will not know for some time , the full costs of consequence and have any foregone conclusion to design and handle cash current , with a hotch - potch of pricing regimes , and no publically available data on inspection levels and trade routes . We are in the benighted and unable to enter the data the BTOM rely on .
" The sector imports £ 753 million of plant and plant products annually . 90 % of our growers import plants at some stage of the develop cycle . nigh 100 % are SMEs and , in theory , subject to 100 % checks and charges . Today , they have near 0 % access code to the easement or choice to BCP usage . We continue to seek member ' insights into how the border and new BCP system is operating , what is working well and what is not , and the cost and imagination implication . "
The HTA ’s full letter of the alphabet can be get at via theHTA website .
For more information : Horticultural trade Associationwww.the-hta.org.uk
