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Explanatory note

Original text. Later amendments are not shown.

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations, which apply to England (including the Isles of Scilly), revoke and replace the Countryside Stewardship Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/695) and all amending Regulations (1996/1481, S.I. 1996/3123 and S.I. 1997/1827) which make provision supplementing Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2078/92 (OJ No. L215, 30.7.92, p.85), as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2772/95 (OJ No. L288, 1.12.95, p.35) which was in turn amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1962/96 (OJ No. L259, 12.10.96, p.7) on agricultural methods compatible with the requirements of the protection of the environment and the maintenance of the countryside. The provisions of the instruments revoked are consolidated in these Regulations.

These Regulations provide for payments of grant to be made at any time during or after the agreement year (regulation 7(1) and (2) (payment of grant)), to any person who enters a stewardship agreement with the Minister requiring him to carry out an activity which is conducive to a specified purpose (as defined in regulation 3(1)) on land in which he has an interest (regulations 4 and 5). A stewardship agreement may be either a standard agreement or a special project agreement (regulation 4(4)).

These Regulations introduce provisions for the payment of grant in relation to arable farmland in specific areas of England, defined by reference to maps contained in a publication entitled “Countryside Stewardship Scheme—Arable Farmland Pilot Areas”, which is available for inspection during normal working hours at the offices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3HX (paragraph 9 of Part I of Schedule 1, and Part IV of that Schedule defining “pilot area”).

These Regulations also provide for the payment of grant to any person who entered a stewardship agreement with the Countryside Commission provided that the Minister has assumed liability for that agreement (regulations 3(1) and 5).

The maximum grant payments for activities required by a standard agreement are specified in Schedule 1 to the Regulations.

These Regulations also provide for the withholding and recovery of aid together with interest, the imposition of penalties and the termination of stewardship agreements (regulations 10, 11 and 12).

No regulatory appraisal has been prepared in respect of these Regulations.