CS CAPITAL GRANT APPROVAL BIG PROBLEM!

[delilah]

We applied to Natural England for approval prior to submitting a Capital Grant Application

Did the CSF person at NE provide you with a letter of support ?

 

[Little Karoo]

Did the CSF person at NE provide you with a letter of support ?

No - that's the problem he didn't support us whereas RPA said the CSF Officer's report would just be a formality! They said 99% of applications are approved. We must be the sad 1%

 

[delilah]

No - that's the problem he didn't support us whereas RPA said the CSF Officer's report would just be a formality! They said 99% of applications are approved. We must be the sad 1%

From memory I thought the application had to be accompanied by the CSF letter of support, so your application would have been turned down on that technicality rather than the RPA not liking your project.

 

[Little Karoo]

From memory I thought the application had to be accompanied by the CSF letter of support, so your application would have been turned down on that technicality rather than the RPA not liking your project.

Ah yes, its a technicality according to the CSF Officer. He did approve some Tanks . Just we find it strange as he seemed to be saying he couldn't support it as we're too high above the Thames but that applies more to the Grant for concrete rather than Tracks

 

[MountPleasantHighlands]

We applied in December for a Track . CSF Officer visited recently. Received his report and we've been refused.
Can't believe it
Whole area completely waterlogged. My Landrover stuck for the first time , Can't buy feed in bulk as Lorry cannot get to the Livestock..
Supposed to be starting school visits soon No way we can take children round to the Pigs
At my wits end
Anybody know if I can appeal ?

We are going through the same process.
We want a track installed to get about 800m up our land to feed the cattle in the winter when they are up there.
We used to move haylage with a quad and trailer but since getting a tractor we have moved round bales up to the cows.
We now have an 800m deeply rutted mud track!!
OK, this autum to spring has been terrible weather wise...even now it is drying out, we can't get up there on a quad or in the pick up due to the deep ruts, without going into the fields.
The track runs along the fence line perfectly straight. The idea is we install the track and fence off our field side with a new hedge along the track.

We also want to track to finish off and maintain 4 great crested newt ponds that were installed by Wildscapes. They can't get up there to fence off yet as they don't fancy lugging all the material up by hand (naturally we could let them use the tractor...) They also want to allow educational visits to the pond and this is not safe with the track in its current state.
The track will also allow us to install a small woodland and manage it through The Woodland Trust.

CSF officer would not support due to us nor moving cattle daily and (in their view...) not creating any pollution.

We approached Natural England who seemed happy to write a letter of support for establishing and improving habitats (ponds and woodland) but they have now sought further advice and they can only support a higher tier scheme. I'm waiting for direct advice from DEFRA as they did suggest over the phone that Natural England simply needed to write a letter of support to get the RP4 grant through CS Capital Grants for, in their words "in combination with options for the management and restoration of habitats or features with the support of a Natural England adviser"

We are working with FIPLs (farming in protected landscapes) however they will only contribute a small amount, if the grant is improved at all...we await the outcome.
We've had 1.3km of new fending and hedge planting, grant approved, work done and grant paid through CS Capital Grants as this benefits biodiversity.
It is very difficult, seemingly, to get funding for hardcore tracks on on the RPA RP4 grant!

It is going to cost inexcess of £30,000 to install the track to RP4 specs.

For me it is a little give and take when working with the authorities.
They want land like ours to enrich the countryside but have a real sticking point over tracks!

 

[Little Karoo]

We are going through the same process.
We want a track installed to get about 800m up our land to feed the cattle in the winter when they are up there.
We used to move haylage with a quad and trailer but since getting a tractor we have moved round bales up to the cows.
We now have an 800m deeply rutted mud track!!
OK, this autum to spring has been terrible weather wise...even now it is drying out, we can't get up there on a quad or in the pick up due to the deep ruts, without going into the fields.
The track runs along the fence line perfectly straight. The idea is we install the track and fence off our field side with a new hedge along the track.

We also want to track to finish off and maintain 4 great crested newt ponds that were installed by Wildscapes. They can't get up there to fence off yet as they don't fancy lugging all the material up by hand (naturally we could let them use the tractor...) They also want to allow educational visits to the pond and this is not safe with the track in its current state.
The track will also allow us to install a small woodland and manage it through The Woodland Trust.

CSF officer would not support due to us nor moving cattle daily and (in their view...) not creating any pollution.

We approached Natural England who seemed happy to write a letter of support for establishing and improving habitats (ponds and woodland) but they have now sought further advice and they can only support a higher tier scheme. I'm waiting for direct advice from DEFRA as they did suggest over the phone that Natural England simply needed to write a letter of support to get the RP4 grant through CS Capital Grants for, in their words "in combination with options for the management and restoration of habitats or features with the support of a Natural England adviser"

We are working with FIPLs (farming in protected landscapes) however they will only contribute a small amount, if the grant is improved at all...we await the outcome.
We've had 1.3km of new fending and hedge planting, grant approved, work done and grant paid through CS Capital Grants as this benefits biodiversity.
It is very difficult, seemingly, to get funding for hardcore tracks on on the RPA RP4 grant!

It is going to cost inexcess of £30,000 to install the track to RP4 specs.

For me it is a little give and take when working with the authorities.
They want land like ours to enrich the countryside but have a real sticking point over tracks!

We feel I did speak to the CSFO & he is currently reconsidering. I reminded him of the qualifying criteria which states that RPA can be used in cases of soil erosion , not just because of pollution. He was very nice about it all. My feeling is that there's a cap on these larger Grants so only really polluted areas qualify.
He also suggested trying our local Water company CSO as they are awarding Grants. Not so large but still better than nothing. I did accidentally speak to the CSO at the start of this process accidentally and he seemed keen to assist. Perhaps these Water Companies have Govt targets?
Worth a try

 

[DairyNerd]

We feel I did speak to the CSFO & he is currently reconsidering. I reminded him of the qualifying criteria which states that RPA can be used in cases of soil erosion , not just because of pollution. He was very nice about it all. My feeling is that there's a cap on these larger Grants so only really polluted areas qualify.
He also suggested trying our local Water company CSO as they are awarding Grants. Not so large but still better than nothing. I did accidentally speak to the CSO at the start of this process accidentally and he seemed keen to assist. Perhaps these Water Companies have Govt targets?
Worth a try

Is it due to what the track will be used for? We have a grant on 450m of track but it's used for cows walking to and from the parlour twice a day so the risk of erosion/runoff is relatively high. Would be between 50 and 200m from nearest river at various point on the track. I have to say we went for it as it's there and it will improve lameness, make it easier to graze early and late. Do I think it will provide any environmental benefit or is a good way to spend taxes, not really.

 

[Little Karoo]

Is it due to what the track will be used for? We have a grant on 450m of track but it's used for cows walking to and from the parlour twice a day so the risk of erosion/runoff is relatively high. Would be between 50 and 200m from nearest river at various point on the track. I have to say we went for it as it's there and it will improve lameness, make it easier to graze early and late. Do I think it will provide any environmental benefit or is a good way to spend taxes, not really.

We have Pigs & its getting impossible to reach them in winter. Feeding & bedding becomes tricky & hard manual labour so I don't think we are being indulgent. Already spent thousands on doing our farm drive + Hardstanding. Now summer is on the way, we can manage. we'll just have to sort it ourselves if no joy by autumn