PART 1 Financial assistance

CHAPTER 1 New financial assistance powers

1 Secretary of State’s powers to give financial assistance

(1) The Secretary of State may give financial assistance for or in connection with any one or more of the following purposes—

(a) managing land or water in a way that protects or improves the environment;

(b) supporting public access to and enjoyment of the countryside, farmland or woodland and better understanding of the environment;

(c) managing land or water in a way that maintains, restores or enhances cultural or natural heritage;

(d) managing land, water or livestock in a way that mitigates or adapts to climate change;

(e) managing land or water in a way that prevents, reduces or protects from environmental hazards;

(f) protecting or improving the health or welfare of livestock;

(g) conserving native livestock, native equines or genetic resources relating to any such animal;

(h) protecting or improving the health of plants;

(i) conserving plants grown or used in carrying on an agricultural, horticultural or forestry activity, their wild relatives or genetic resources relating to any such plant;

(j) protecting or improving the quality of soil.

(2) The Secretary of State may also give financial assistance for or in connection with either or both of the following purposes—

(a) starting, or improving the productivity of, an agricultural, horticultural or forestry activity;

(b) supporting ancillary activities carried on, or to be carried on, by or for a producer.

(3) Financial assistance may only be given in relation to England.

(4) In framing any financial assistance scheme, the Secretary of State must have regard to the need to encourage the production of food by producers in England and its production by them in an environmentally sustainable way.

(5) For the purposes of this section—

• “ancillary activities” means selling, marketing, preparing, packaging, processing or distributing products deriving from an agricultural, horticultural or forestry activity;

• “better understanding of the environment” includes better understanding of agroecology;

• “conserving” includes restoring or enhancing—

  (a)

  a population of a relevant species;

  (b)

  in the case of animals or plants in the wild, a habitat;

• “cultural or natural heritage” includes uplands and other landscapes;

• “improving productivity”, in relation to carrying on an activity, includes—

  (a)

  improving the quality of any products deriving from the activity, and

  (b)

  improving the efficiency of the activity in terms of the resources used in, or in connection with, it;

• “livestock” includes any creature kept for the production of food, drink, oils, fibres or leathers, or for the purpose of its use in the farming of land;

• “producer” means a person who carries on, or is to carry on, an agricultural, horticultural or forestry activity.

(6) In this Chapter—

• “financial assistance” means financial assistance under this section;

• “financial assistance scheme” means a scheme for giving financial assistance made by the Secretary of State.