The Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Central Borders) Designation Order 1993

Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Central Borders) Designation Order 1993 and shall come into force on 8th December 1993.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Order–

“agreement” means an agreement under section 18(3) of the Agriculture Act 1986 as regards land in the area designated by article 3;

“amenity woodland” means small scale woodland planted and maintained primarily for improvement of the landscape;

“conservation plan” means a layout plan (or plans) which categorises all the land on the farm, identifies areas subject to specific management measures and indicates the lines or sites of features to be protected or maintained and an attached (written) statement which outlines the specific management measures to be taken to protect or enhance the areas identified in the plan (or plans);

“farm business” means a business or part of a business which engages in agricultural production for the purposes of trade;

“farmer” means a person who has an interest in agricultural land in the area designated by article 3 and who enters or has entered into an agreement with the Secretary of State;

“grazing plan” means a written description of the time, duration and density at which livestock will be permitted access to grazing land and the action required to achieve such access;

“heather moorland” means areas of land in which heather (calluna vulgaris) and other dwarf shrubs (including bell heather (erica cinerea), cross-leaved heath (erica tetralix), crowberry (empetrum nigrum), blaeberry (vaccinium myrtillus), bog myrtle (myrica gale)) occur throughout the vegetation;

“herb rich grassland” means land used for grazing or mowing which is not normally treated with mineral fertiliser or lime and does not constitute rough grazing, but which is floristically diverse;

“make muirburn” has the same meaning as in section 39(1)(f) of the Hill Farming Act 1946(1);

“modifying existing drains” means deepening existing ditches or culverts, re-cutting hill grips or altering outfalls from under drainage systems;

“native woodland” means self-seeded woodland of native species or woodland derived from an originally naturally occurring woodland;

“new drainage” means cutting new grips or ditches and laying new tiles or pipes;

“overgrazing” means a deterioration in the condition of vegetation which has been caused by too high a level of grazing either throughout the whole year or at certain vulnerable times of the year;

“reverted improved land” means land, previously improved by agricultural management operations which, from an agricultural viewpoint, has degenerated and is now showing significant presence of plant species indicative of unimproved grassland;

“rough grazings” means land containing semi-natural vegetation including heathland, heather moorland, bog and rough grassland used or suitable for use as grazing;

“scrub” means low growing woody vegetation;

“semi-natural woodland” means native woodland which has been modified by human activity;

“specially identified wetlands” means wetlands which Scottish Natural Heritage have listed as being comparatively undamaged by applications of fertiliser to the surrounding catchment, and which are identified on a map located at the local office of the Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department, which administers the Central Borders Environmentally Sensitive Area;

“stone fanks” means small enclosures formed by drystane dykes used to gather or shelter stock;

“unimproved pasture” means land used for grazing or mowing which is not normally treated with mineral fertiliser or lime and does not constitute rough grazing;

“water margins” means an area of ground bordering an area of still or flowing water;

“wetlands” means any ground which is normally saturated with water for a significant proportion of the year.

(2) Any reference in this Order to a numbered article shall be construed as a reference to the article bearing that number in this Order.

Designation of Environmentally Sensitive Area

3.  There is hereby designated as an Environmentally Sensitive Area that area of land within the Ettrick and Lauderdale and Roxburgh Districts of Borders Region which area is shown delineated red and coloured pink on the map marked “Environmentally Sensitive Area–Central Borders” dated 26th October 1993 and signed on behalf of the Secretary of State for Scotland and deposited at the offices of the Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department, Pentland House, Robb’s Loan, Edinburgh.

Requirements to be included in agreement

4.  An agreement shall include the requirements specified in the Schedule to this Order as to agricultural practices, methods and operations and the installation and use of equipment.

Provisions as to breach of requirements to be included in agreement

5.  An agreement shall include provision that–

(a) in the event of a breach by the farmer of the requirements referred to in article 4, the Secretary of State may give the farmer notice in writing terminating the agreement forthwith and may recover from the farmer an amount equivalent to the payments made by the Secretary of State under the agreement or such part thereof as the Secretary of State may specify; and

(b) any question arising under an agreement as to whether there has been a breach of any of the requirements referred to in article 4 shall be referred to and determined by a single arbiter to be agreed between the parties, or in default of agreement to be appointed by the Chai rman for the time being of the Scottish Branch of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and in accordance with the provisions of the Arbitration (Scotland) Act 1894(2) or any statutory modification or re-enactment there for the time being in force.

Rates of payment under agreement

6.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2) below, payments made by the Secretary of State under an agreement shall be at the rate of £15 per annum for each hectare of land to which the agreement relates, or at the rate of £1,500 per annum per individual farm business, whichever is the lower.

(2) Payments in respect of farm businesses to which an agreement relates shall be at the rate of not less than £250 per annum per farm business.

7.  Where an agreement identifies expenditure required to undertake additional farming operations specified in paragraph 10(b) of the Schedule to this Order, the Secretary of State shall make additional payments according to the farming operations to be carried out. Such payments shall be at a rate to be determined by the Secretary of State, up to a maximum rate of £135 per annum for each hectare of land to which the agreement relates, or at the rate of £5,000 per annum per individual farm business, whichever is the lower.

Revocation

8.  The Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Whitlaw and Eildon) Designation Order 1988(3) is hereby revoked, except that the provisions thereof shall continue to apply to agreements made under that Order before the date of coming into force of this Order.

Hector Monro

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Scottish Office

St. Andrew’s House,

Edinburgh

26th October 1993

We consent,

T J R Wood

Andrew Mackay

Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury

2nd November 1993