The Farm and Conservation Grant Scheme 1989

Restrictions on payment of grant

4.—(1) The appropriate Minister shall not pay grant under paragraph 3(1) in relation to any expenditure–

(a) if at the time the expenditure was incurred the agricultural business in relation to which the expenditure was incurred was the subject of a development plan approved under the 1980 Regulations or the 1981 Regulations or of an improvement plan approved under the 1980 Regulations and subsisting at that time;

(b) in connection with the breeding or keeping of pigs where that expenditure is in respect of any work, facility or transaction of a kind specified in paragraph 1(b) in column 1 of Schedule 1 which entails an increase in production;

(c) in connection with the breeding or keeping of poultry or the production of eggs except where that expenditure is in respect of any work, facility or transaction which is of a kind specified in any of paragraphs 1 to 5 in column 1 of Schedule 1 and which does not entail an increase in production;

(d) in connection with the breeding or keeping of dairy cows unless it appears to that Minister that the effect of the work, facility or transaction in respect of which that expenditure has been incurred is not to exceed the reference quantity, increased where appropriate by the additional reference quantity, determined in accordance with Council Regulation (EEC) No. 857/84(1) adopting general rules for the application of the levy referred to in Article 5c of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 804/68(2) in the milk and milk products sector;

(e) in connection with any work, facility or transaction of a kind specified in paragraph 5 in column 1 of Schedule 1 unless that Minister is satisfied that the person through whom the business is carried on practises farming as his main occupation, in that not less than half of his annual income, calculated in accordance with the provisions of sub-paragraph (2) below, is derived from agricultural activities relating to that business and the amount of time spent by him in those activities is more than 1,100 hours per year;

(f) in connection with any work, facility or transaction of a kind specified in paragraph 1(b) or (c) or 5 in column 1 of Schedule 1 unless written notification of the work, facility or transaction was given to the appropriate Minister in such form as he may require and that notification was acknowledged by him before the expenditure was incurred.

(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(e) above a person’s annual income shall be calculated by reference to the financial year immediately preceding the day on which the claim for grant is submitted or such other period as the appropriate Minister shall determine, being a period which he is satisfied gives a fair indication of the normal amount of income of that person and the normal amount of income derived from agricultural activities in the business by that person.

(3) Where at the date on which a claim for grant under paragraph 3(1) is received by the appropriate Minister–

(a) the amount of the expenditure, other than expenditure incurred in respect of any work, facility or transaction of a kind specified in paragraph 5 in column 1 of Schedule 2, which is included in the claim (hereinafter in this paragraph referred to as “the present claim”) and towards which grant is payable, or

(b) the aggregate of the amount of that expenditure and any other relevant expenditure towards which grant is payable or has been paid in respect of the same agricultural business, whether under this Scheme or otherwise, as the result of a claim received during the period of six years ending with the date of receipt of the present claim,

exceeds £35,000 per labour unit reasonably required in the carrying on of the agricultural business to which the present claim relates or £74,000 for the business, that Minister shall not pay grant towards so much of that expenditure or, as the case may be, that aggregate as exceeds those figures.

(4) Where the agricultural business to which the present claim under paragraph 3(1) relates includes the breeding or keeping of poultry or the production of eggs, work done in carrying on that part of the agricultural business shall be disregarded for the purposes of calculating under sub-paragraph (3) above the number of labour units reasonably required in the carrying on of the agricultural business, except where the present claim is in respect of any work, facility or transaction of a kind specified in any of paragraphs 1 to 5 in column 1 of Schedule 1.

(5) In this paragraph–

• “expenditure” does not include expenditure incurred in respect of any work, facility or transaction of a kind specified in paragraph 9 in column 1 of Schedule 1;

• “other relevant expenditure” means expenditure which is included in any previous improvement plan approved under the 1980 Regulations or towards which grant is payable or has been paid under this Scheme or the 1985 Scheme, but does not include expenditure incurred in respect of any work, facility or transaction of a kind specified in paragraph 9 in column 1 of Schedule 1 to this Scheme or to the 1985 Scheme or expenditure incurred in respect of the provision, replacement or improvement of shelter hedges (including hedgerow trees and associated protective fencing).

(1)

OJ No. L90, 1.4.84, p.13, amended by Council Regulations (EEC) No. 1557/84 (OJ No. L150, 6.6.84, p.6), 590/85 (OJ No. L68, 8.3.85, p.1), 1305/85 (OJ No. L137, 27.5.85, p.12), 2893/85 (OJ No. L278, 18.10.85, p.9), 1343/86 (OJ No. L119, 8.5.86, p.34), 1911/86 (OJ No. L165, 21.6.86, p.6), 2316/86 (OJ No. L202, 25.7.86, p.3), 774/87 (OJ No. L78, 20.3.87, p.3), 1899/87 (OJ No. L182, 3.7.87, p.39), 1110/88 (OJ No. L110, 29.4.88, p.28).

(2)

OJ No. L148, 28.6.68, p.13; Article 5c was inserted by Council Regulation (EEC) No. 856/84 (OJ No. L90, 1.4.84, p.10) and subsequently amended by Council Regulations (EEC) No. 1298/85 (OJ No. L137, 27.5.85, p.5), 2893/85, 1335/86 (OJ No. L119, 8.5.86, p.19), 773/87 (OJ No. L78, 20.3.87, p.1), 2988/87 (OJ No. L285, 8.10.87, p.1), 744/88 (OJ No. L78, 23.3.88, p.1), 1109/88 (OJ No. L110, 29.4.88, p.27).