- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
Is there a new scheme up and running yet? If so what's it called this time and have you got a link to the handbook?
BB
BB
ELS
- Thread starter Banana Bar
- Start date
IIRC its going to much harder to get onto the replacement for els, mine runs out at the end of the year and not going to bother to renew, we do try to be environmentally friendly but want the freedom to change things as I see fir not some seat dweller that has no clue
It's called greening. The old HLS has been replaced by Mid Tier & Higher Tier Countryside Stewardship. There is also a Capital Grant scheme too. What you used to get ELS points for will now be EFA - hedges, buffer strips, field corners etc. Mid & Higher Tier will mean extra features over & above what you have for BPS greening.
Isnt there a limited pot of money this time for that? I thought I read that you have to something above just bog standard environmental benefits to get it, thus more restrictive and intrusive
That sums it up well. Less dosh about & we will have to work harder for it. We are looking at the feasibility of a cluster agreement with a few neighbours. My boss wants to put more land into his grey partridge restoration project so some grant money would help partally compensate the loss of good arable land. The GWCT are keen to back it & 3 of us are bordering a nature reserve so it should tick a few boxes. My ELS doesn't run out until the end of next year so we have a bit of time to think about it.
Feldspar
Member
- Location
- Essex, Cambs and Suffolk
Is it possible to see on Magic maps or the like whether one is in one of their "target areas"? Also, what happens if one block of land is in a target area and another one isn't?
- Location
- Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk
It seems like for the replacement July seems to be the starting period for applications https://www.gov.uk/guidance/countryside-stewardship/when-to-apply
I haven't seen a new handbook yet, but there is this online which has options available with the new scheme (I don't know wether this is a fianl list, but I would expect so) https://www.gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants
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Try the "What's in my back yard" map on the Environment Agency website too. You might be in a sensitive catchment which will help. I haven't tried Magic recently but it's good for showing things like SSSIs, Ancient Monuments etc.
Is this what your after @Feldspar ?
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/countryside-stewardship-statements-of-priorities
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/countryside-stewardship-statements-of-priorities
We're in the north Shropshire Meres and Mosses catchment area, with a lot of our water draining into a large Mere, which is an SSSI, hence being in HLS , with some arable reversion .
Maybe they will pay me £200/acre to grass the lot down..
Feldspar
Member
- Location
- Essex, Cambs and Suffolk
That's very useful. I need to have a word with our CSF officer to work out exactly where the boundaries are.
The way I see it some of those options and payment rates are a no-brainer relative to current agricultural returns - the only worry for me being any unforeseen post agreement restrictions you end up with that could play havoc if you wanted / needed to actually 'farm' it again.
