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

Title and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Breckland) 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 (Breckland) Designation 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 headland” means a strip of land at least six metres wide along the edge of a field growing arable crops that is subject to restrictions on the use of fertilisers and herbicides;

“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;

“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;

“grassland” means land on which the vegetation consists primarily of grass species;

“heathland” means sandy or chalky land which is free-draining and covered by semi-natural vegetation;

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

“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;

“river valley grassland” means land on which the vegetation consists primarily of grass species and on which the soil is not predominantly free-draining;

“uncropped wildlife strips” means a strip of land at least six metres wide at the edge of a field used for arable cropping which is subject to restrictions on the use of fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides, nutrients and other agricultural admixtures;

“winter stubble” means the residue of stalks and other plant material remaining after harvest of a cereal or linseed crop and which is not removed over the winter period; and

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

5.  In article 3 of the principal Order, for the words “dated 3rd March 1993, signed and sealed by the Minister” there shall be substituted “dated 18th May 1998, signed on behalf of the Minister by the Parliamentary Secretary”.

6.  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.   Payments to be made by the Minister under an agreement may be made in respect of a capital activity or a management activity.”.

7.  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.”.

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

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

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

(a) articles 4A, 6 and 7; and

(b) Schedules 3, 4, 5, 6 and 6A.

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