Countryside Stewardship

Countryside Stewardship is the new overarching scheme under which agri-environment, catchment sensitive farming and Woodland Grants will be made. 

Its launch last year was widely regarded as totally chaotic, with some guidance notes arriving after the application deadline had closed.  So it was testament to the pioneering nature of many farmers and their advisors that 2,344 Mid Tier and 326 Higher Tier applications were submitted. Having said that, Natural England is still working through these applications despite the start date of the schemes being January 1, 2016.

However a number of new grants and initiatives have, or are about to open that may interest  farmers in these straightened times despite last year’s applications still needing to be sorted.

On February 1 the Hedges and Boundaries Capital Grant scheme opened which is a stand-alone application process under the overall banner of Countryside Stewardship.

The maximum grant available is £5,000 per farmer and the application period closes on April 30.

There are 12 capital items available with different payment rates which include grants for:

• Hedgerows: planting, laying, coppicing, gapping up and supplements for casting up and top binding and staking
• Earth bank restoration
• Stone faced banks: repair and restoration
• Stone walls: restoration and supplements for top wiring and stone from quarry

The supplements can only be applied for with the associated capital item, and photographic evidence will be required before and after the works take place.

While on a rather grander scale, the CS Facilitation Fund opened on January 18 with the aim of providing support to bring together groups of farmers to work in partnership to deliver CS at a “Landscape scale”.  This scheme closes on March 18.

The facilitator needs to be able to demonstrate environmental land management experience and facilitation skills.  They will be required to bring together a minimum of four landowners whose total farm area is at least 2,000 hectares and the facilitator could receive up to £12,000 per annum.   The applications are assessed on a competitive basis.

Then expressions of interest for the CS Higher Tier will need to be submitted during February/March.  These will be assessed by Natural England with those which are approved being worked up in to full applications between June and September for the actual agreement to commence on January 1, 2017.

Finally, the Mid Tier application manual with online “priorities option tool” will be available from mid March which hopefully will help farmers understand what Natural England are looking to achieve, thereby making the application process which runs from June 1 to September 30 more straightforward than last year’s. 

James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk

Small number of applications for the CSS have been confirmed

Natural England have confirmed that only 2,314 applications for new Mid-Tier Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) were received by the deadline of September 30. This is a disappointing figure and raises concerns that many farmers in agri-environment schemes will now simply withdraw their land when the existing scheme ends.  

Also, because the new scheme is competitive I expect a significant number of applications will be turned down.  

This is perhaps no surprise as the existing scheme which included the “broad and shallow” Entry Level Scheme (ELS) was easy to enter and critics would say it delivered little in environmental gain. However, it did get many farmers and landowners involved in agri-environment schemes to the extent that around 70 per cent of English agricultural land is covered by some form of environmental scheme and this must have delivered some environmental benefit.

But, as funds have got tighter, the demands of the new CSS have increased and it appears they have risen to such a level that they have discouraged many farmers from even applying.  This is despite the difficult economic situation facing many of them.  

It seems the new scheme has either been designed to discourage all but the best applicants or it has been “over-engineered” - making the application and delivery of the scheme too onerous and expensive for most farmers.  My guess is that it is a bit of both but we know for certain that many farmers and landowners will not be entering the new scheme when their existing one expires.

As a result, the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) is calling for comprehensive revision of the scheme for next year.

CLA president Henry Robinson said: “Landowners and farmers want to protect and improve the environment, and we want the new Countryside Stewardship Scheme to succeed. However the chaos of the new scheme’s introduction and the complexity of its requirements have put land managers off participating next year.

“We have been warning the government for months, but they failed to take the swift and decisive action that was required to salvage the scheme. England’s natural environment and wildlife will pay the price. This is a big step backwards in our efforts to improve the environmental management of our landscapes.

“Defra must now enter into open discussion with land managers to ensure that next year’s scheme is much improved both in terms of being viable for applicants and also delivering the best environmental benefits.”

However, it remains to be seen whether Defra will listen to such calls or whether attracting only limited numbers of committed farmers and landowners is the purpose behind the new Countryside Stewardship Scheme. 


James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk

Distant mandarins of DEFRA

The distant mandarins of DEFRA are building a reputation for incompetence.

The flagship Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) opened for applications on July 1, but it came as no surprise to farmers who have endured the introduction of the new Basic Payment Scheme that DEFRA failed to publish the full terms and conditions of the scheme, leaving potential applicants in limbo.

The CSS replaces the existing Entry Level and Higher Level Environmental Stewardship schemes which have closed to new entrants. However, there is now less money available so the new scheme will be competitive, unlike its predecessors.

Statements of Priorities have been drawn up that cover all of England and applicants to the scheme need to choose options and capital items that meet the environmental priorities for their geographical area. As the scheme is competitive, applications are scored and agreements offered on the basis of meeting the environmental priorities applicable to the area where the applicant’s land is located.

The CSS comprises three core elements:

• Mid Tier – this will be open to any farmer to make an application and if successful they will be offered a five-year agreement

• Higher Tier – this is predominantly an invitation led application process for “environmentally significant sites” where more complex management is required. Again these agreements are likely to be for five years

• Capital Grants – these are one to two year grants which focussed on work being carried out on field boundaries, projects leading to water quality improvement, small scale woodland creation, etc.

Natural England had already identified a number of potential applicants for the Higher Tier scheme and they were invited to complete an “expression of interest” form online by June 30, but that date slipped with the deadline put back to July 15.

With this sort of incompetence surrounding the new flagship environmental scheme I wonder whether the September 30 deadline for submission of applications will also have to be postponed if the terms and conditions of the scheme are not published very soon.

This lack of clarity has prompted the NFU to warn farmers and other potential applicants against formally committing to the CSS before they know just what they are signing up to.

So yet again we are witnessing the chaotic introduction of a new EU-funded scheme where high level decisions have been made which seem almost impossible to implement on the ground within the timescales set by Whitehall mandarins.  

James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk