Regulation 4 Applications for grant

(1)

An application for a grant shall—

(a)

include an application to enter into an environmental stewardship agreement with the Secretary of State; and

(b)

be made at such times, in such form and be accompanied by such information, as the Secretary of State requires.

(2)

An application to enter into an environmental stewardship agreement containing an HLS element must be accompanied by a plan (“a farm environment plan”), in such form as the Secretary of State requires, identifying the features of environmental significance on the relevant land.

(3)

Subject to paragraph (4), in paragraph (2) and Schedule 1 relevant land means land—

(a)

which—

(i)

is farmed by the applicant as a single farming business; or

(ii)

would have been farmed as a single farming business but is instead farmed by the applicant as two or more farming businesses in order to comply with the requirement of the second paragraph of Part A of Annex III of the Council Regulation (which provides that production in accordance with organic standards must be clearly separated from production which is not in accordance with such standards);

and which includes the land which is the subject of the application to enter into an environmental stewardship agreement with an HLS element; and

(b)

which is registered on the Rural Land Register held by the Rural Payments Agency, an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; and

(c)

in relation to which the applicant, either—

(i)

alone, or

(ii)

with a person who countersigns the application,

has, on the date of the application, the right, for at least five years from that date, to carry out activities of the type required by HLS options.

(4)

In paragraph (2), where the land which is the subject of the application forms all or part of a common, the relevant land is the land comprising the entire common.

(5)

The Secretary of State shall make a grant (“a farm environment plan grant”) to an applicant in respect of a farm environment plan if the plan and the associated application to enter into an environmental stewardship agreement are in such form as the Secretary of State requires.

(6)

The amount of a farm environment plan grant shall be calculated in accordance with Schedule 1.