{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/set-aside-regulations-1988/regulation-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/set-aside-regulations-1988/regulation-2.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1988/1352",
  "legislation_title": "The Set-Aside Regulations 1988",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/set-aside-regulations-1988",
  "path": "regulation/2",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "Interpretation",
  "text": "(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—\n“agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming, livestock breeding and keeping and freshwater fish farming, the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, reed beds, market gardens and nursery grounds, and “agricultural” shall be construed accordingly;\n“application” means an application for aid under regulation 5 and “applicant” and “apply” shall be construed accordingly;\n“the appropriate Minister” means—\n(a) in relation to England, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food;\n(b) in relation to Scotland or Wales, the Secretary of State;\n“arable crops” means crops of a type listed in Schedule 1;\n“arable land” means land used for the production of arable crops;\n“beneficiary” means—\n(a) a person whose application has been accepted; or\n(b) a person who occupies a holding or part of a holding following a change of occupation of that holding or part and who has given an undertaking to comply with set-aside obligations relating to that holding or part assumed by the previous occupier;\n“the Broads” shall have the same meaning as in section 2(3) of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988;\n“designated maps” means—\n(a) in relation to England, the 3 volumes of maps numbered 1 to 3, each such volume being marked “volume of maps of less-favoured farming areas in England”, and with the number of the volume, dated 3rd April 1984, signed and sealed by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and deposited at the offices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at Great Westminster House, Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2AE;\n(b) in relation to Wales, the 2 volumes of maps numbered 1 and 2, both volumes being marked “volume of maps of less-favoured farming areas in Wales” and with the number of the volume, dated 29th March 1984, signed by the Secretary of State for Wales and deposited at the offices of the Welsh Office Agriculture Department at Plas Crug, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 1NG;\n(c) in relation to Scotland, the 4 maps numbered 1 to 4, each such map being marked “map of less-favoured farming areas in Scotland” and with the number of the map, dated 2nd April 1984, signed by the Secretary of State for Scotland and deposited at the offices of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland at Chesser House, Gorgie Road, Edinburgh EH11 3AW;\n“eligible person” means a person who on the date of the submission of his application occupies a holding comprising arable land as an owner or tenant and who at the commencement of the set-aside period will have so occupied that holding for a period of at least twelve months;\n“holding” means land which is occupied as a unit for agricultural purposes;\n“landlord” means—\n(a) in England and Wales, in relation to the tenant of a holding or part of a holding, any person who either solely or jointly owns or has a superior tenancy of that holding or part;\n(b) in Scotland—\n(i) in the case of an agricultural holding to which the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1949 (the “1949 Act”) applies, the landlord within the meaning of section 93(1) of that Act;\n(ii) in the case of a croft within the meaning of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1955, the landlord within the meaning of section 37(1) of that Act;\n(iii) in the case of a holding within the meaning of the Small Landholders (Scotland) Act 1911 to which the 1949 Act does not apply, the same as it means in the 1911 Act;\nand, where appropriate, includes a head tenant;\n“less-favoured area” means land—\n(a) which is situated in an area included in the list of less-favoured farming areas adopted by the Council or the Commission of the European Communities under Article 2 of Council Directive No. 75/268/EEC on mountain and hill farming and farming in certain less-favoured areas, and\n(b) which—\n(i) is, in the opinion of the appropriate Minister, inherently suitable for extensive livestock production but not for the production of crops in quantity materially greater than that necessary to feed such livestock as are capable of being maintained on such land, and whose agricultural production is, in the opinion of the appropriate Minister, restricted in its range by, or by any combination of, soil, relief, aspect or climate, or\n(ii) is situated in the Isles of Scilly,\nwhich land is within the area shaded blue or pink on the designated maps;\n“National Park Authority” means a special planning board or a joint planning board or a National Park Committee constituted or re-constituted in accordance with Part I of Schedule 17 to the Local Government Act 1972;\n“permanent fallow” means land which is fallowed for the whole of the set-aside period;\n“reference period” means the period commencing on 1st July 1987 and ending on 30th June 1988;\n“relevant arable crops” means crops of a type listed in List A in Schedule 1;\n“relevant arable land” means land used for the production of relevant arable crops;\n“rotational fallow” means land fallowed as part of the arable rotation;\n“the set-aside area” means the area of arable land which a beneficiary undertakes to set aside under the provisions of these Regulations;\n“set-aside land” means any land forming part of the set-aside area;\n“the set-aside obligations” means—\n(a) the obligations assumed by a beneficiary by virtue of the undertakings referred to in regulation 3; and\n(b) (where these apply) the requirements laid down in regulations 4, 7(1), 8 and 9(1) and (2);\n“the set-aside period” means—\n(a) in relation to an application accepted by the appropriate Minister in 1988, the period commencing on the date of acceptance of that application or 1st October 1988, whichever is later, and ending on 30th September 1993;\n(b) in relation to an application accepted by the appropriate Minister in a year subsequent to 1988, the period of five consecutive years from 1st October in that year;\n“to set aside” means, in relation to arable land, to withdraw that land from agricultural production;\n“Site of Special Scientific Interest” means any area of land notified by the Nature Conservancy Council under the provisions of section 28(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981;\n“tenant” means—\n(a) in England and Wales, a person who occupies a holding or part of a holding either—\n(i) under an agreement for the letting of land for a tenancy from year to year; or\n(ii) under an agreement which has effect by virtue of section 2(1) of the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 as an agreement for the letting of land for a tenancy from year to year; or\n(iii) under a contract of tenancy for a fixed term of years of which at least five years remain unexpired at the commencement of the set-aside period;\n(b) in Scotland—\n(i) in the case of an agricultural holding to which the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1949 (the “1949 Act”) applies, the tenant within the meaning of section 93(1) of that Act;\n(ii) in the case of a croft within the meaning of the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1955, the crofter within the meaning of section 3(2) of that Act;\n(iii) in the case of a holding within the meaning of the Small Landholders (Scotland) Act 1911 to which the 1949 Act does not apply, the tenant within the meaning of section 2(2) of the 1911 Act;\nand, where appropriate, includes a sub-tenant;\n“the Woodland Grant Scheme” means the scheme made by the Forestry Commissioners and published in June 1988 under which the Forestry Commissioners enter into agreements to make grants pursuant to section 1 of the Forestry Act 1979 for and in connection with the use and management of land for forestry purposes.\n(2) Any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation or Schedule shall be construed as a reference to the regulation or Schedule bearing that number in these Regulations.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "1988 c. 4."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f2",
      "text": "1949 c. 75."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f3",
      "text": "1955 c. 21."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f4",
      "text": "1911 c. 49."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f5",
      "text": "OJ No. L128, 19.5.75, p.1; Article 2 was amended by Council Directive No. 80/666/EEC (OJ No. L180, 14.7.80, p.34)."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f6",
      "text": "1972 c. 70."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f7",
      "text": "1981 c. 69."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f8",
      "text": "1986 c. 5."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f9",
      "text": "1979 c. 21."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "amended",
      "affecting": "uksi/1990/1716",
      "affecting_title": "The Set-Aside (Amendment) Regulations 1990"
    },
    {
      "type": "amended",
      "affecting": "uksi/1989/1042",
      "affecting_title": "The Set-Aside (Amendment) Regulations 1989"
    },
    {
      "type": "amended",
      "affecting": "uksi/1991/1993",
      "affecting_title": "The Set-Aside (Amendment) Regulations 1991"
    },
    {
      "type": "substituted",
      "affecting": "uksi/1991/199",
      "affecting_title": "The Price Indications (Method of Payment) Regulations 1991"
    },
    {
      "type": "amended",
      "affecting": "uksi/1991/199",
      "affecting_title": "The Price Indications (Method of Payment) Regulations 1991"
    },
    {
      "type": "applied (with modifications)",
      "affecting": "uksi/1996/1243",
      "affecting_title": "The National Park Authorities (England) Order 1996"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1988/1352/regulation/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T16:01:27.402993+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}