Equine organisations and councils have welcomed a new bill they hope will help tackle the growing issue of fly-grazing.

The Control of Horses Bill was given its third reading on March 18, and will become law before the General Election on May 7.

The legislation will make it easier for landowners, local authorities and welfare charities to take action over dumped and fly-grazed horses.

The Bill will also bring England into line with Wales, which introduced a similar law early last year.

A spokesman for the national and international horse charity World Horse Welfare said that after almost three years of campaigning, all the organisations in the charity’s coalition were delighted that the Bill had successfully been passed and that it would become law before the election.

He said: “This law will make a big difference to horse welfare as charities have been struggling to help the thousands of horses being bred indiscriminately and kept without proper care.”

The new law will also help landowners, farmers, communities and taxpayers because it will make it quicker and easier to remove dumped or fly-grazed horses.

The success of the Welsh legislation demonstrates that the laws will work if they are used. A coalition of charities and organisations championed the Private Member’s Bill, which was introduced in the Commons by Julian Sturdy, the MP for York Outer.

The Bill makes small, but important, changes to the Animals Act of 1971.

The updated law will require landowners to keep any horses placed on their land for only four working days, as opposed to the current two weeks, and will allow more options to dispose of the horses besides public sale, such as gifting them to a charity, selling them privately or humane euthanasia.

The bill will receive Royal Assent within the next fortnight and will then become law.

James Legge, the Countryside Alliance’s head of political affairs, said: “This new act represents a significant step forward for horse welfare and will help local authorities and private landowners tackle the scourge of fly-grazing.”

The co-operation of all the political parties, all leading rural and welfare organisations and the support given by the Government demonstrates the consensus that this law is much needed.

UK charities estimate the number of horses fly-grazed to be more than 3,000.