The Moorland (Livestock Extensification) Regulations 1995

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

“application” means an application under regulation 4 and “applicant” shall be construed accordingly;

“authorised person” means a person (whether or not an officer of the Minister) authorised by the Minister in accordance with regulation 9;

“beneficiary” means—

(a)

a person whose application has been accepted, or

(b)

a person who occupies a holding or part of a holding following a change of occupation of that holding or part and who has given an undertaking to comply with extensification obligations relating to that holding or part assumed by the previous occupier;

“common land” means land which an applicant has a right to use for the purpose of grazing ewes or relevant livestock by virtue of any right of common;

“compensatory allowance” means the annual compensatory allowance paid under the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1984(1), the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1993(2) or the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1994(3) in respect of sheep;

“eligible moorland” means land which is—

(a)

comprised in a moorland grazing unit on which heather covers more than 25 per cent of the land,

(b)

included in the area coloured pink on any of the maps in the volume of maps marked “Moorland Map of England 1992” and deposited at the offices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HH, and

(c)

not in an environmentally sensitive area designated under section 18 of the Agriculture Act 1986(4);

“eligible person” means a person who on the date of his application—

(a)

is the occupier of a production unit containing at least 20 hectares of eligible moorland and has occupied that production unit for a period of at least 12 months, and

(b)

either has received compensatory allowances for his flock in respect of 1994 and any subsequent year in respect of which such allowances may be paid or has entered into an agreement with the Minister in accordance with the Sheep Pilot Extensification Scheme;

“ewe” means a female sheep which was at least one year old on the last preceding qualifying date;

“extensification obligations” means the obligations assumed by a beneficiary by virtue of the undertakings referred to in regulation 3 or 7;

“extensification period” means the period of five consecutive years commencing on the first day of the first winter after the acceptance by the Minister of an application;

“heather” means common heather (Calluna vulgaris), and includes bell heather (Erica cinerea), cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix), crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), bilberry or whortleberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), bog myrtle (Myrica gale), western gorse (Ulex galii) and other ericaceous dwarf shrub species when growing in association with common heather;

“holding” means all the production units farmed by an applicant or beneficiary;

“landlord” means, in relation to any land occupied by a tenant, any person who is entitled for the time being to receive the rents or profits of the land;

“livestock unit” means—

(a)

6.66 ewes, or

(b)

6.66 goats, or

(c)

1 bovine animal more than two years old, or

(d)

1.66 bovine animals from six months old to two years old inclusive, or

(e)

1 horse or pony more than six months old, or

(f)

4.35 farmed deer;

“the Minister” means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food;

“moorland” means land with predominantly semi-natural upland vegetation, or comprising predominantly rock outcrops and semi-natural upland vegetation, used primarily for rough grazing;

“moorland grazing unit” means an area of moorland on which stock management and numbers can be controlled by existing boundaries or by shepherding;

“occupier” includes a person who has a right to use eligible moorland for the purpose of grazing ewes and “occupied” shall be construed accordingly;

“overgrazing” means grazing land with livestock in such numbers as adversely to affect the growth, quality or species composition of vegetation (other than vegetation normally grazed to destruction) on that land to a significant degree;

“participating production unit” means a production unit—

(a)

which contains at least 20 hectares of eligible moorland,

(b)

which on the date of an application has been occupied by the applicant for a period of at least 12 months, and

(c)

in respect of which an undertaking is given to comply with the obligations described in regulation 3(a) to (e);

“production unit” means land farmed in England by an applicant or beneficiary as a single unit, having regard to supplies of machinery, livestock, feeding-stuffs and manpower;

“qualifying date” means—

(a)

20th February where an applicant or a beneficiary has not submitted a claim for compensatory allowances in respect of that year or has not submitted such a claim on or before the date which is the qualifying day for the purposes of those allowances, and

(b)

in all other cases, the date which is the qualifying day for the purposes of those allowances;

“reference flock” means—

(a)

where the applicant has entered into an agreement with the Minister in accordance with the Sheep Pilot Extensification Scheme, the number of ewes for which the applicant received compensatory allowances for the year immediately before the year in which the applicant entered into that agreement, and

(b)

in other cases the smallest of the following, namely—

(i)

where an applicant or beneficiary received compensatory allowances in respect of 1994, the number of ewes for which he received the allowances,

(ii)

where an applicant or beneficiary received compensatory allowances in respect of the year prior to submission of his application, the number of ewes for which he received the allowances, and

(iii)

where the Minister has notified the applicant of a number of ewes in accordance with paragraph (2), the number of ewes so notified;

“relevant livestock” means cattle, goats, horses, ponies and farmed deer;

“Sheep Pilot Extensification Scheme” means the Sheep Scheme referred to in the booklet “Beef and Sheep Pilot Extensification Schemes” reference EXT1 issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland, the Welsh Office Agriculture Department and the Department of Agriculture for Nothern Ireland(5);

“specified stocking density” means 0.15 livestock units per hectare in winter and 0.23 livestock units per hectare in summer;

“summer” means—

(a)

in respect of land in the counties of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, the period in any year from 1st April to 31st October inclusive, and

(b)

in respect of all other land in England, the period in any year from 1st March to 30th September inclusive;

“tenant” includes sub-tenant and any person deriving title from the original tenant or sub-tenant;

“unsuitable supplementary feeding methods” means feeding methods which include providing supplementary feed (other than to maintain livestock during abnormal weather conditions) in such a manner as to result in damage to vegetation through excessive trampling or poaching of the land by animals or excessive rutting by vehicles;

“winter” means—

(a)

in respect of land in the counties of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, the period from 1st November in any year to 31st March in the next year inclusive, and

(b)

in respect of all other land in England, the period from 1st October in any year to the end of February in the next year inclusive.

(2) Where the Minister forms the opinion that (taking account of the need to avoid overgrazing) there is a maximum number of ewes which should be grazed on the holding of an applicant, the Minister may notify the applicant of that number.

(3) Any reference in these Regulations to the date of an application is a reference to the date of receipt of that application by the Minister.

(4) Any reference in these Regulations—

(a) to a numbered regulation or “the Schedule” shall be construed as a reference to the regulation so numbered in these Regulations or the Schedule to these Regulations;

(b) to a numbered paragraph is to the paragraph so numbered in the regulation in which the reference occurs.

(1)

S.I. 1984/2024, amended by S.I. 1985/2075, S.I. 1987/2129, S.I. 1991/392 and S.I. 1991/1439, and revoked by S.I. 1992/269.

(2)

S.I. 1993/2631, amended by S.I. 1993/2924 and S.I. 1994/94, and revoked by S.I. 1994/2740.

(3)

S.I. 1994/2740.

(4)

1986 c. 49; section 18 was amended by S.I. 1994/249. At the date of making these Regulations, no land in the area coloured pink on the “Moorland Map of England 1992” had been so designated.

(5)

Copies of the booklet are available from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HH.