2024 No. 391
Agriculture, England
Countryside, England
The Countryside Stewardship (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2024
Made at 1.55 p.m. on 18th March 2024
Laid before Parliament at 4.30 p.m. on 18th March 2024
Coming into force 8th April 2024

The Secretary of State makes these Regulations, with the consent of the Treasury, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 98 of the Environment Act 1995.
1995 c. 25, as amended by the Scotland Act 1998 (Consequential Modifications) (No.2) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/1820). Section 98(5) defines the appropriate Minister. The functions of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (which related only to England) were transferred to the Secretary of State by virtue of article 2(2) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Dissolution) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/794).

1 Citation, commencement, extent, and application
1 These Regulations may be cited as the Countryside Stewardship (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 and come into force on 8th April 2024.
2 These Regulations extend to England and Wales but apply to England only.

2 Amendment to the Countryside Stewardship (England) Regulations 2020
In the Countryside Stewardship (England) Regulations 2020, for Part 2 of the Schedule (management activities) substitute the new Part 2 set out in the Schedule to these Regulations.
S.I 2020/41, as amended by S.I. 2021/42, 2022/141, 2023/159, 968.
Mark Spencer Minister of State Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs At 1.55 p.m. on 18th March 2024
We consent
Joy Morrissey Amanda Milling Two of the Lord Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury 14th March 2024

SCHEDULE NEW PART 2 OF THE SCHEDULE TO THE COUNTRYSIDE STEWARDSHIP (ENGLAND) REGULATIONS 2020
Regulation 2

“PART 2 MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES
	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
	Activity name	Description	Maximum payment rate per agreement year
1. Arable
(a)	Nectar flower mix	Establishing and maintaining a mixture of pollen and nectar rich plants on arable land	£739 per hectare (“ha”)
(b)	Basic overwinter stubble	Retention of overwintered stubble until the following February	£84 per ha
(c)	Beetle banks	Creation (if appropriate) or maintenance of beetle banks	£764 per ha
(d)	Skylark plots	Creation of skylark plots to access growing cereal	£11 per plot (minimum 2 plots per ha)
(e)	Nesting plots for lapwing and stone curlew	Establishing and maintaining plots for ground-nesting birds	£765 per ha
(f)	Enhanced overwinter stubble	Retention of overwintered stubble until the following July	£589 per ha
(g)	Whole crop cereals	Planting and harvesting whole crop cereals followed by overwintered stubble	£596 per ha
(h)	Flower-rich margins and plots	Establishing flower-rich grass margins or plots as habitat and foraging for invertebrates and birds	£798 per ha
(i)	Winter bird food	Establishing blocks or strips of cereals, brassicas and other plants providing food for farmland birds, especially for autumn and winter	£853 per ha
(j)	Unharvested cereal headland	Creation of an unharvested, open structured cereal crop for wildlife	£1,072 per ha
(k)	Cultivated areas for arable plants	Creation of uncropped, cultivated areas for scarce and declining arable plants	£660 per ha
(l)	Supplementary winter feeding for farmland birds	Spreading winter feed mixture for birds in selected feeding areas	£732 per tonne for every 2 ha of winter bird food
(m)	Brassica fodder crop	Establishing and managing a brassica fodder crop as foraging sites for birds	£100 per ha
(n)	Harvested low input cereal	Establishing and managing an open-structure cereal crop as summer foraging for wildlife	£354 per ha
(o)	Two year sown legume fallow	Establishing and managing a legume fallow mix as food for farmland wildlife	£593 per ha
(p)	Autumn sown bumblebird mix	Establishing and managing a mix of flowering and seed bearing plants after harvest as food for farmland birds and insects	£747 per ha
2. Boundaries, Trees and Orchards
(a)	Protection of in-field trees on arable land	Protection of in-field trees on arable land	£553 per ha
(b)	Protection of in-field trees on intensive grassland	Protection of in-field trees on intensive grassland	£295 per ha
(c)	Management of hedgerows	Management of hedgerow (one-side)	£13 per 100 metres (“m”) for 1 side of a hedge
(d)	Management of traditional orchards	Management of traditional orchards	£264 per ha
(e)	Creation of traditional orchards	Creation of traditional orchards	£471 per ha
(f)	Veteran tree surgery	Carrying out specialist tree surgery to extend the lifespan of veteran trees	£488 per tree
(g)	Supplement for restorative pruning of fruit trees	Restorative pruning of mature fruit trees	£146 per tree
3. Coastal
(a)	Management of coastal sand dunes and vegetated shingle	Management of coastal sand dunes and vegetated shingle	£620 per ha
(b)	Creation of coastal sand dunes and vegetated shingle on arable land and improved grassland	Creation of coastal sand dunes and vegetated shingle on arable land and improved grassland	£773 per ha
(c)	Management of coastal saltmarsh	Management of coastal saltmarsh	£724 per ha
(d)	Creation of inter-tidal and saline habitat on arable land	Creation of inter-tidal and saline habitat on arable land	£812 per ha
(e)	Creation of inter-tidal and saline habitat by non-intervention	Creation of inter-tidal and saline habitat by non-intervention	£494 per ha
(f)	Coastal vegetation management supplement	Management of grazing on saltmarsh or saline habitat	£123 per ha
(g)	Creation of inter-tidal and saline habitat on intensive grassland	Creation of inter-tidal and saline habitat on intensive grassland	£494 per ha
4. Grassland
(a)	Take small areas out of management	Taking small areas of permanent grassland out of management	£365 per ha
(b)	Permanent grassland with very low inputs outside SDAs	Management of permanent grassland with very low inputs outside SDAs	£151 per ha
(c)	Ryegrass seed-set as winter food for birds	Establishing a ryegrass seed-set on grassland to provide food in the autumn and winter for birds	£515 per ha
(d)	Legume and herb-rich swards	Establishment and maintenance of legume and herb-rich swards	£382 per ha
(e)	Permanent grassland with very low inputs in SDAs	Management of permanent grassland with very low inputs in SDAs	£151 per ha
(f)	Management of species-rich grassland	Management of species-rich grassland	£646 per ha
(g)	Restoration towards species-rich grassland	Restoration towards species-rich grassland	£646 per ha
(h)	Creation of species-rich grassland	Creation of species-rich grassland	£646 per ha
(i)	Management of wet grassland for breeding waders	Management of wet grassland for breeding waders	£676 per ha
(j)	Management of wet grassland for wintering waders and wildfowl	Management of wet grassland for wintering waders and wildfowl	£547 per ha
(k)	Creation of wet grassland for breeding waders	Creation of wet grassland for breeding waders	£676 per ha
(l)	Creation of wet grassland for wintering waders and wildfowl	Creation of wet grassland for wintering waders and wildfowl	£547 per ha
(m)	Management of grassland for target features	Management of grassland for targeted habitats, species or features	£528 per ha
(n)	Creation of grassland for target features	Creation of grassland for targeted habitats, species or features	£528 per ha
(o)	Haymaking supplement	Continue or re-introduce haymaking on fields which are or were cut for hay once a year	£157 per ha
(p)	Rush infestation control supplement	Reduce rush cover in grassland with heavy infestations	£95 per ha
(q)	Lenient grazing supplement	Management of grazing to provide spring and summer invertebrate food	£44 per ha
(1) “SDA” is defined in Part 1 of the Schedule to S.I. 2020/41.			
5. Historic environment and landscape
(a)	Maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings	Maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings	£5 per square metre (“sq m”)
(b)	Take historic and archaeological features out of cultivation	Taking land with archaeological or historic features out of cultivation	£613 per ha
(c)	Reduced-depth, non-inversion cultivation on historic and archaeological features	Reducing damage to historical and archaeological features under cultivation by using non-inversion machinery and shallower cultivation depths	£115 per ha
(d)	Scrub control on historic and archaeological features	Controlling scrub on historic and archaeological features	£215 per ha
(e)	Management of historic and archaeological features on grassland	Management of historic and archaeological features on grassland	£55 per ha
(f)	Maintenance of designed/ engineered water bodies	Maintenance of designed or engineered water bodies	£2,512 per ha
(g)	Management of historic water meadows through traditional irrigation	Management of historic water meadows through traditional irrigation	£863 per ha
(h)	Maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings in remote areas	Maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings in remote areas	£8 per sq m
(i)	Restricted depth crop establishment to protect archaeology under an arable rotation	Restricting the depth of crop establishment to protect archaeology under an arable rotation	£257 per ha
6. Lowland heath
(a)	Management of lowland heathland	Management of lowland heathland	£412 per ha
(b)	Restoration of forestry and woodland to lowland heathland	Restoration of forestry and woodland to lowland heathland	£311 per ha
(c)	Creation of heathland from arable or improved grassland	Creation of lowland heathland from arable or improved grassland	£711 per ha
7. Soil and water
(a)	4m to 6m buffer strip on cultivated land	Creation (where appropriate) and maintenance of 4m to 6m buffer strip on cultivated land	£515 per ha
(b)	4m to 6m buffer strip on intensive grassland	Creation (where appropriate) and maintenance of 4m to 6m buffer strip on intensive grassland	£235 per ha
(c)	In-field grass strips	Creation (where appropriate) and maintenance of dense grassy areas on cultivated land	£765 per ha
(d)	12m to 24m watercourse buffer strip on cultivated land	Creation (where appropriate) and maintenance of 12m to 24m buffer strip on cultivated land	£707 per ha
(e)	Enhanced management of maize crops	Management of maize and a cover crop to reduce the risk of soil erosion and run off	£203 per ha
(f)	Winter cover crops	Provision of a cover crop to reduce nitrate leaching	£129 per ha
(g)	Arable reversion to grassland with low fertiliser input	Reversion of arable land to grassland with low fertiliser input	£489 per ha
(h)	Management of intensive grassland adjacent to a watercourse	Management of intensive grassland adjacent to a watercourse	£311 per ha
(i)	Seasonal livestock removal on intensive grassland	Seasonal removal of livestock from intensive grassland adjacent to a watercourse	£115 per ha
(j)	Seasonal livestock removal on grassland in SDAs next to streams, rivers and lakes	Seasonal removal of livestock from grassland adjacent to a watercourse in SDAs	£115 per ha
(k)	Riparian management strip	Prevention of livestock access to a watercourse and provision of a buffer strip	£742 per ha
(l)	Making space for water	Helping water flow in a winding course across flood plains, flooding temporarily to restore river and wetland habitats	£1,489 per ha
(m)	Very low nitrogen inputs to groundwaters	Reduction of nutrient input to grassland	£396 per ha
(n)	Nil fertiliser supplement	Reduction of nutrient inputs to zero	£156 per ha
(o)	Flood mitigation on arable reversion to grassland	Creation of temporary water storage to mitigate flood risk on arable reversion to grassland	£740 per ha
(p)	Flood mitigation on permanent grassland	Creation of temporary water storage to mitigate flood risk on permanent grassland	£330 per ha
8. Uplands
(a)	Enclosed rough grazing	Maintain and enhance areas of enclosed rough grazing land within an upland farming system	£53 per ha
(b)	Management of rough grazing for birds	Management of rough grazing habitat for birds	£121 per ha
(c)	Management of moorland	Management of moorland	£55 per ha
(d)	Management of moorland vegetation supplement	Management of vegetation to restore and improve Priority Habitats	£12 per ha
(e)	Moorland re-wetting supplement	Maintenance and restoration of vegetation mosaics and wetland habitats	£181 per ha
(f)	Upland livestock exclusion supplement	Management of upland through livestock exclusion	£19 per ha
(g)	Management of wood pasture and parkland	Management of existing upland wood pasture and parkland	£212 per ha
(h)	Restoration of wood pasture and parkland	Restoration of upland wood pasture and parkland	£371 per ha
(i)	Creation of wood pasture	Creation of new upland wood pasture	£544 per ha
(1) “Priority Habitat” is defined in regulation 2(1) of S.I. 2020/41.			
9. Woodland and scrub
(a)	Woodland creation – maintenance payments	Maintenance of newly created woodland	£400 per ha
(b)	Woodland improvement	Improvement of existing woodland	£127 per ha
(c)	Woodland edges on arable land	Creation of new woodland edge habitat	£428 per ha
(d)	Management of wood pasture and parkland	Management of existing lowland wood pasture and parkland	£212 per ha
(e)	Restoration of wood pasture and parkland	Restoration of lowland wood pasture and parkland	£371 per ha
(f)	Creation of wood pasture	Creation of new lowland wood pasture	£544 per ha
(g)	Management of successional areas and scrub	Management of successional areas and scrub	£276 per ha
(h)	Creation of successional areas and scrub	Creation of successional areas and scrub	£514 per ha
(i)	Livestock exclusion supplement – scrub and successional areas	Exclusion of livestock from scrub and successional areas	£121 per ha
10. Wetlands
(a)	Buffering in-field ponds and ditches in improved grassland	Creation and maintenance of buffer strips for in-field ponds and ditches in improved grassland	£311 per ha
(b)	Buffering in-field ponds and ditches on arable land	Creation and maintenance of buffer strips for in-field ponds and ditches on arable land	£681 per ha
(c)	Management of ditches of high environmental value	Management of ditches of high environmental value (both sides)	£44 per 100 m for the management of both sides of the ditch
(d)	Pond management (area less than or equal to 100 sq m)	Management of small ponds of high wildlife value	£424 per pond
(e)	Pond management (area more than 100 sq m)	Management of larger ponds of high wildlife value	£424 per pond
(f)	Management of reedbed	Management, maintenance and restoration of reedbed	£920 per ha
(g)	Creation of reedbed	Creation of new areas of reedbed	£1,605 per ha
(h)	Management of fen	Management of fen and small areas of reedbed	£920 per ha
(i)	Creation of fen	Creation of new areas of fen	£1,605 per ha
(j)	Management of lowland raised bog	Management of lowland raised bog	£215 per ha
(k)	Wetland cutting supplement	Cutting management of wetland habitats	£1,346 per ha
(l)	Wetland grazing supplement	Grazing management of wetland habitats	£566 per ha
11. Organic
(a)	Overwintered stubble	Retaining overwinter stubble on organic land	£264 per ha
(b)	Wild bird seed mixture	Establishing a mix of seed-bearing plants on organic land	£787 per ha
(c)	Supplementary feeding for farmland birds	Spreading winter feed mixture for birds in selected feeding areas on organic land	£935 per tonne for every 2 ha of wild bird seed mixture
(d)	Multi-species ley	Establishing and managing a multi-species ley on organic land	£117 per ha
(e)	Undersown cereal	Establishing an autumn or spring sown cereal crop undersown with a grass/flower-rich legume ley	£380 per ha
12. Organic conversion
(a)	Organic conversion – improved permanent grassland	Conversion of improved permanent grassland to organic management	£187 per ha per year for up to 2 years
(b)	Organic conversion – unimproved permanent grassland	Conversion of unimproved permanent grassland to organic management	£96 per ha per year for up to 2 years
(c)	Organic conversion – rotational land	Conversion of rotational land to organic management	£298 per ha per year for up to 2 years
(d)	Organic conversion – horticulture	Conversion of rotational land used to produce vegetables or salads into organic	£874 per ha per year for up to 2 years
(e)	Organic conversion – top fruit	Conversion of top fruit orchards or berry bushes to organic management	£1,920 per ha per year for up to 3 years
13. Organic maintenance
(a)	Organic land management - improved permanent grassland	Maintaining improved permanent grassland under organic management	£40 per ha
(b)	Organic land management - unimproved permanent grassland	Maintaining unimproved permanent grassland under organic management	£41 per ha
(c)	Organic land management - rotational land	Maintaining rotational land under organic management	£132 per ha
(d)	Organic land management – horticulture	Maintaining horticultural land under organic management	£707 per ha
(e)	Organic land management - top fruit	Maintaining top fruit orchards or berry bushes under organic management	£1,920 per ha
(f)	Organic land management - enclosed rough grazing	Maintaining enclosed rough grazing land under organic management	£97 per ha
14. Additional supplements
(a)	Difficult sites supplement	Management of particularly difficult sites	£93 per ha
(b)	Raised water level supplement	Raising water levels in ditches and adjacent land	£181 per ha
(c)	Bracken control supplement	Controlling dense bracken	£232 per ha
(d)	Control of invasive plant species supplement	Controlling invasive plant species	£380 per ha
(e)	Shepherding supplement	Introducing, re-introducing or making significant changes to shepherding	£10 per ha
(f)	Cattle grazing supplement	Cattle grazing for conservation purposes	£59 per ha
(g)	Introduction of cattle grazing on the Isles of Scilly	Introduction of conservation grazing on the Isles of Scilly on land that is not currently grazed by cattle	£279 per ha
(h)	Native breeds at risk supplement	Grazing native breeds at risk	£167 per ha
(i)	Threatened species supplement	Additional habitat management for named Priority Species	£204 per ha
(j)	Administration of group managed agreements supplement	Administering agreements with shared tenure	£7 per ha
(1) “Priority Species” is defined in regulation 2(1) of S.I. 2020/41.			
15. Educational access
(a)	Education access	Permitting and making provision for access to farm land for educational visits	£363 per visit”

EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations further amend the Countryside Stewardship (England) Regulations 2020 (“the 2020 Regulations”) (S.I. 2020/41) and are made pursuant to section 98 of the Environment Act 1995 (c. 25).
Regulation 2 amends the maximum payment rates per agreement year for management activities carried out as part of a countryside stewardship agreement under regulation 3 of the 2020 Regulations.
These Regulations also make minor amendments to improve clarity.
A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary, or public sector is foreseen.