The Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Exmoor) Designation (Amendment) Order 1998

Title and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Exmoor) Designation (Amendment) Order 1998 and shall come into force on 22nd June 1998.

Interpretation

2.  In this Order “the principal Order” means the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Exmoor) Designation (Amendment) Order 1993(1), as amended at the date that this Order comes into force.

Amendment of the principal Order

3.  The principal Order shall be amended in accordance with the following provisions of this Order.

4.  In article 2(1) of the principal Order, the provisions immediately following the words “In this Order—” to the end of article 2(1), in so far as they were made under section 18 of the Agriculture Act 1986, shall be deleted and the following definitions shall be inserted at their appropriate alphabetical place:

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

“capital activity” means an activity specified in Schedule 1;

“conservation plan” means a plan incorporated into an agreement for the carrying out of one or more capital activities within a specified period;

“cultivated land” means land which is regularly ploughed or otherwise cultivated or that is regularly treated with fertilisers;

“enclosed unimproved permanent grassland” means enclosed permanent grassland which has not undergone regular land cultivation,or which has not been regularly treated with fertilisers, lime, slag or pesticides;

“farmer” means a person who has an interest in agricultural land in the area designated by article 3, and who has also entered into an agreement with the Minister;

“heather moorland or coastal heath” means moorland or coastal heath comprised in a grazing unit where the area of heather is greater than 10 hectares or represents more than 25 per cent of the area of the unit;

“improved permanent grassland” means permanent grassland that is regularly treated with fertilisers used for pasture or for the production of hay or silage;

“low input permanent grassland” means grassland used for pasture or hay or silage production, which receives little or no fertiliser and which has the potential to develop a diverse botanical interest;

“management activity” means an activity specified in Schedule 2;

“meadowland” means grassland primarily used for the production of hay or silage;

“moorland” means land covered by semi-natural upland vegetation which is generally unenclosed except along ownership boundaries;

“permanent grassland” means grassland which has not been ploughed or reseeded for at least ten years;

“public access route” means a strip of land which is the subject of an agreement and on which access is given to the public;

“relevant date” means 22nd June 1998; and

“woodland” means land used for woodland where that use is ancillary to the farming of land for other agricultural purposes.”.

5.  For article 4 of the principal Order and the heading thereto there shall be substituted the following article and heading—

“Matters in respect of which payments may be made

4.   A payment to be made by the Minister under an agreement may be made in respect of—

(a) a capital activity; or

(b) a management activity which—

(i) in the case of a payment to be made under an agreement entered into before the relevant date, is specified in Part I or Part II of Schedule 2; and

(ii) in the case of a payment to be made under an agreement entered into on or after the relevant date, is specified in Part I of Schedule 2.”

6.  For article 5 of the principal Order and the heading thereto there shall be substituted the following article and heading—

“Rates of payment

5.— (1) Payments to be made by the Minister under an agreement shall not exceed—

(a) in the case of a management activity, the rate specified in respect of that activity in column 2 of Schedule 2; and

(b) in the case of one or more capital activities included in a conservation plan, £100,000 in aggregate.

(2) Any works which form part of an activity which constitutes both a management activity and a capital activity may by virtue of an agreement be eligible for payment either as part of a management activity or as part of a capital activity, but the agreement together with any conservation plan incorporated in it shall not provide for payment to be made on both such bases in respect of the same works.”.

7.  For Schedule 1 to the principal Order there shall be substituted the Schedule set out in Schedule 1 to this Order.

8.  For Schedule 2 to the principal Order there shall be substituted the Schedule set out in Schedule 2 to this Order.

9.  The following provisions of the principal Order shall be deleted—

(a) articles 4A and 6; and

(b) Schedules 1A, 4 and 5.

Elliot Morley

Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

18th May 1998

We consent,

Graham Allen

Jim Dowd

Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury

19th May 1998