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The Countryside Stewardship (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2024
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Statutory Instruments
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(1).
Citation, commencement, extent, and application
1.—(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.
Amendment to the Countryside Stewardship (England) Regulations 2020
2. In the Countryside Stewardship (England) Regulations 2020(2), for Part 2 of the Schedule (management activities) substitute the new Part 2 set out in the Schedule to these Regulations.
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
Regulation 2
SCHEDULENEW PART 2 OF THE SCHEDULE TO THE COUNTRYSIDE STEWARDSHIP (ENGLAND) REGULATIONS 2020
“PART 2MANAGEMENT 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
| (1) “SDA” is defined in Part 1 of the Schedule to S.I. 2020/41. | |||
| (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 (1) | 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 |
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
| (1) “Priority Habitat” is defined in regulation 2(1) of S.I. 2020/41. | |||
| (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 (1) | £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 |
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
| (1) “Priority Species” is defined in regulation 2(1) of S.I. 2020/41. | |||
| (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 (1) | £204 per ha |
| (j) | Administration of group managed agreements supplement | Administering agreements with shared tenure | £7 per ha |
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.
(1)
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).
(2)
S.I 2020/41, as amended by S.I. 2021/42, 2022/141, 2023/159, 968.
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