Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Enforcement) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations supplement the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Designation Order (Northern Ireland) 2005 (S.R. 2005 No. 276) (“the 2005 Order”), which gives effect in part to the agri-environment element of the programming document based on the rural development plan for Northern Ireland submitted by the United Kingdom to the European Commission pursuant to Article 41 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1257/1999 (O.J. No. L160, 26.06.1999, p.80) and which was approved by Commission Decision C(2000) 3638 of 4th December 2000, as amended by Commission Decision C(2005) 952 of 16th March 2005.

The Regulations provide for the withholding and recovery of payments payable under an agreement made after the coming into operation of these Regulations under Article 3(2) of the Agriculture (Environmental Areas) (Northern Ireland) Order 1987, (S.I. 1987/458 (N.I. 3)), as respects agricultural land in any of the areas designated by the 2005 Order. They also provide for the recovery of interest and the imposition of penalties (regulations 3 to 5).

These Regulations revoke, with a saving, the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Enforcement) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001, (S.R. 2001 No. 270) (regulation 6).

The rural development plan for Northern Ireland, together with a copy of Commission Decision C(2000) 3638 approving it, as amended and approved by Commission Decision C(2005) 952 of 16th March 2005, is available for inspection at the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast, BT4 3SB.