Defra’s budget for the New Environmental Land Management Scheme (NELMS) for the next six years will be less than a third of the agri-environment scheme budget for the current period and payment rates under the new scheme, which is set to be launched in 2015, are likely to be significantly lower than those under the current Environmental Stewardship (ES) agreements as a result.
Defra have already committed £2.2 bn of its £3.1 bn agri-environment budget for the next six years to completing existing ELS and HLS agreements leaving less than £1 bn for NELMS.
Under NELMS there will be a single annual agreement start date of the 1st January each year with the first agreements starting on the 1st January 2016.
The scheme will consist of three elements:
Upper tier (priority sites)
This will focus on sites of highest environmental value such as SSSIs and priority scheduled monuments. Agreements will be for 5 years with some exceptions of up to 10-20 years and will be by invitation only. It is expected that 90% of farmers in HLS will be accepted into this tier which is likely to be operated in a similar manner to HLS with Natural England providing one-to one advisory support. However, it is likely that the payment rate under this tier will be significantly less than under HLS. For example, the payment rate under the proposed upper tier option “Management of Wood-pasture and parkland” is set to be £46 per hectare compared to the £180 per hectare which has been available under the equivalent HLS option.
Mid – tier (priority areas)
These will be 5 year agreements with potential for a 2 year extension and will be limited to certain “Target Areas.” Targeting maps have been drafted and can be downloaded from Natural England’s website. DEFRA are now awaiting feedback from local stakeholders before producing the final map at the end of 2014.The points thresholds seen under Environmental Stewardship will be replaced by a scoring system whereby the applications received in each ‘round’ will be scored against each other with only those delivering the best environmental benefits being accepted into the scheme. The scoring system will promote locally preferred options or option packages.
Universal small scale capital grants
NELMS will only be available to a fraction of those currently in ES and as a result it is thought that by 2020 the proportion of farmland in England covered by agri-environment schemes will fall from 70% to 35-40%.
However, those without multi-annual agreements (under ES or NELMS) will be able to apply for capital grants on an annual basis. Proposals are for a short application window of 2-3 months, a maximum of one application per holding per year and a minimum grant of £1,000 up to a maximum of £5,000. It is likely that applicants will be required to have control over their land for 5 years as the grant item would need to be maintained for this period.
Selection criteria will be applied in the event of an oversubscription which will prioritise applicants who have either never received funding under an agri-environment scheme agreement, or have done in the past but have not been offered a new agreement.
It is likely that the type of options available will be boundary options such as hedgerow laying, coppicing and gapping up and stone wall and stone-faced bank restoration.
Existing Stewardship agreements
ELS and HLS agreements will continue for the full term. However farmers with ELS and Organic ELS agreements which started on or after the 1st January 2012 may have their payments reduced if they have certain options in order to prevent double funding due to the overlap between ES scheme options and the Ecological Focus Area requirements under Greening.
