SFI agreements Common land

[topground]

With the release today of information about SFI Common land agreements I had a look because I claim BPS on 100 acres of common land owned by the Parish Council. I am paid a proportion according to the grazing rights I hold which is limited to a number of head of cattle
There is no commoners organisation and I have no idea who else has commoners rights and more importantly has BPS rights and claims. The parish council I understand has some sort of stewardship agreement in place that I was never consulted about before they entered into it but I doubt they are eligible for BPS
I understand that in order to claim an application has to be made by an ‘Entity’. Entity is not defined in the glossary so what does that mean in terms of additional bureaucracy and therefore cost to someone?

The RPA will know who claims currently and who is eligible to claim when compared with the commons register held by the Local Authority but will they release that information if anyone has the energy to enquire? I doubt it and would expect GDPR to be the reason quoted.

If you are a commoner how are you and your fellow commoners dealing with any SFI application?

I ask myself will it be worth the hassle to make an application in the circumstances outlined above given the above for the paltry sums on offer? Is this another cunning stunt by DEFRA to deny the peasants the crumbs on offer from their largess so that the owners of common land and other organisations that do not rely on food production for their living can hoover up the cash?
Persuade me it is worth even thinking about getting involved please @Janet Hughes Defra

 

[Janet Hughes Defra]

With the release today of information about SFI Common land agreements I had a look because I claim BPS on 100 acres of common land owned by the Parish Council. I am paid a proportion according to the grazing rights I hold which is limited to a number of head of cattle
There is no commoners organisation and I have no idea who else has commoners rights and more importantly has BPS rights and claims. The parish council I understand has some sort of stewardship agreement in place that I was never consulted about before they entered into it but I doubt they are eligible for BPS
I understand that in order to claim an application has to be made by an ‘Entity’. Entity is not defined in the glossary so what does that mean in terms of additional bureaucracy and therefore cost to someone?

The RPA will know who claims currently and who is eligible to claim when compared with the commons register held by the Local Authority but will they release that information if anyone has the energy to enquire? I doubt it and would expect GDPR to be the reason quoted.

If you are a commoner how are you and your fellow commoners dealing with any SFI application?

I ask myself will it be worth the hassle to make an application in the circumstances outlined above given the above for the paltry sums on offer? Is this another cunning stunt by DEFRA to deny the peasants the crumbs on offer from their largess so that the owners of common land and other organisations that do not rely on food production for their living can hoover up the cash?
Persuade me it is worth even thinking about getting involved please @Janet Hughes Defra

The 'entity' will normally be an existing commons association - if you don't have one already (if the common is in any scheme, as many of them are, then you will most likely have an association already). If not, you would need to set one up. There is an extra payment per hectare for any common land coming into SFI, to recognise the extra cost involved in entering into an agreement on a common.