The Wildlife Enhancement Scheme

Transcription

1 The Wildlife Delivering management agreements for English Nature working today for nature tomorrow

2 The Wildlife Delivering management agreements for English Nature A Message from Sir Martin Doughty, Chair, English Nature. I am delighted that you are interested in English Nature s Wildlife. I hope that this leaflet will give you the necessary information about the Scheme. However, please contact our Team office for your area if you need more information. Our aim for all Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) is to work with the owners and occupiers of these special sites so that they are managed for the maximum benefit for wildlife. The Wildlife is one way that we can help you. Management Agreements that are completed under the Scheme enable us to make payments to you. The Agreements give guidance on how the site should be managed. Our experience has shown that this helps to foster a good partnership, and achieves long-term benefits for wildlife. Thank you for your interest, and we look forward to working with you. Fenced enclosure on Caton s land, Malham Arncliffe SSSI, North Yorkshire. Peter Wakely/English Nature 16,602 Introduction The Wildlife Enhancement Scheme is a voluntary scheme for Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) which combines English Nature s knowledge of wildlife management with your management skills, and knowledge of your land. By working together we hope to improve the wildlife interest of your land. Through the Wildlife Enhancement Scheme, English Nature may offer you a Management Agreement to enable you to manage the land in a wildlife friendly way. The Wildlife Enhancement Scheme is potentially available on all SSSIs in England. However, Management Agreements are only offered at English Nature s discretion, and we will focus our attention on those SSSIs which are in unfavourable condition. As an alternative, you may be able to obtain an Agreement under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme or the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Scheme, both of which are operated by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), or through the Woodland Grant Scheme, which is administered by the Forestry Commission. The key features of our Management Agreements are: Standard Conditions Standard Payment Management Plan Map The best way to explain the Wildlife is for one of our local staff to meet you. To help you before any meeting we have tried, in this leaflet, to answer questions you may wish to ask. How do the payments work? There are two types of payment: A. Annual Management Payment There may be an annual payment per hectare at a standard rate for each habitat (hay meadow, pasture, fens, etc). The payment will be agreed in advance and specified in the Management Agreement. You will normally be paid annually in arrears, as long as you have carried out the planned management. If anything happens to stop you carrying out any planned management, it is important that you tell us as soon as possible. The basis for calculating payments is set down in a DETR publication of February 2001 titled Guidelines on Management Agreement Payments and Other Related Matters. By using standard payments, we are able to ensure that all Agreement holders are treated in a fair and comparable way. If you do not comply with the terms of the Agreement, you may have to pay back some or all of the annual management payments. B. Specific Works Payments These are discretionary payments as contributions to one-off works, which will aid management of the site for wildlife. We will provide specifications for the works and agree English Nature s contribution either on the basis of standard costs for routine works, eg. fencing, or on an agreed reasonable cost of the particular works. Where an Agreement holder is not reasonably able to carry out or organise the works, or the works either are of a specialist nature or affect several agreement holders, English Nature may offer to contract out the work directly. If you do not comply with the terms of the agreement, you may have to pay back some or all of the specific works payments. Can I have an If you own or occupy land in a Site of Special Scientific Interest, English Nature could offer you an agreement. There are certain circumstances arising under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000) where we have to offer an Agreement. The Government has a target to get 95% of all the SSSIs into favourable condition by 2010, and thus we will give priority to Management Agreements that will help to achieve that target. If you are the occupier of the land, there may be circumstances (eg the type of tenancy or licence) where the owner should also be a party to the Agreement. Are there other implications if I sign the By entering into the Agreement, you will be required to manage the rest of the land that you farm in accordance with the Codes of Good Farming and Agricultural Practice, and to comply with other relevant legislation. In addition, if the Management Agreement involves grazing livestock, you must not allow over-grazing or under-grazing to occur on the rest of the farm. 2 3

3 enjoy the wildlife that you are helping to conserve, and we encourage you to provide these opportunities, but you do not have to grant access to the land covered by the Agreement. However, public rights of way, and such rights of access as may be established under Part 1 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, are not affected by the Agreement. How long will the Agreement last? Wildlife Agreements are normally for five years. If you have kept to the Agreement, we may invite you to renew it when it expires. Will I have to change my way of farming? Generally, if your land is an SSSI this is because the way in which it has been managed has been good for wildlife. In many cases, the Agreement will help you to continue this management or it may be necessary to agree amended management practices, or to reintroduce practices that maintained the conservation interest in the past. There will be a Management Plan for the land, and we will discuss and agree this with you before you sign the Agreement. soon as possible before the date of transfer. Your Agreement ends when your legal interest in the land ends. We will be happy to discuss a new Agreement with the new owner or occupier. What happens if I cannot keep to the terms of the If you break any of the rules of the Agreement, English Nature may reduce, withhold or reclaim any payments, or end the Agreement giving one month s notice and require you to repay any money you have received towards specific works payments. However, if a breach is because of factors beyond your control (eg extreme weather conditions) and the breach can be remedied to the satisfaction of English Nature, you will usually be allowed to continue with the Agreement. What about other Environmental Land Management Schemes? is designed to conserve and improve the wildlife interest of SSSI land. However, there are a number of other Schemes, such as the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Scheme, Countryside Stewardship Scheme and Woodland Grant Scheme which are also available from other organisations. We would be happy to consider with you the best Scheme (or combination of Schemes) to fit your circumstances. If you have an existing agreement with, for example Defra, a Wildlife Enhancement Agreement may pay for management additional to that required under your existing agreement but you must inform the other organisation(s). If you apply to another environmental land management scheme that requires the same or similar management objectives as the Wildlife, English Nature may end the Agreement giving one month s notice. How do I obtain a Wildlife If you are invited by English Nature to enter into an Agreement, we will discuss the details with you, and once there is agreement between us, we will send you two copies of the Management Agreement, which you should sign, and return to English Nature. Once processed we will return one copy for you to keep. Stone Curlew Burhinus oedicnemus. Paul Glendell/English Nature 25,003 What land can I put in the Scheme? English Nature may allow into the scheme any land which is notified as an SSSI. We may also suggest that land next to the SSSI comes into the scheme if this is important for the wildlife on the SSSI. Acceptance of land into the Wildlife will be at our discretion, and ideally English Nature would like you to enter all or most of the land you own or occupy within the SSSI. Can I enter Common Land in the scheme? Yes, but English Nature will have to discuss the scheme with any commoners association and will normally have to obtain agreement from the majority of common rights holders before signing agreements with individual commoners. In all cases, the land owner must be informed of any proposed agreement. Do I have to allow public access? The public may welcome opportunities to appreciate and What happens if I acquire extra SSSI land after I join? If you acquire new land in an SSSI where you already have a Wildlife Enhancement Agreement, you can apply to enter the additional land into the scheme. Any new Agreement will normally be for a minimum period of five years. What happens if I sell/let all or part of the land after I join? If you decide to transfer your legal interest in land covered by any Agreement, you must tell us and also tell the new owner or occupier about the Agreement as Sheep grazing management on Skipwith Common, North Yorkshire. Peter Wakely/English Nature 14,

4 Wildlife farm near Holsworthy, North Devon. Peter Wakely/English Nature 16,600 Do I need to tell anyone else about my proposed English Nature may not be able to enter into an Agreement if your legal status is not clear or the Agreement could lead you to breach the terms of any tenancy. It is your responsibility to make sure that your tenancy agreement will not be affected by joining the scheme and that the tenancy does not contain any conditions which stop you complying with the Agreement. We must also ensure that you are not being paid by another Government Department or Agency for the same work, so if you have another Environmental Land Management Scheme, you will need to check that you can complete an Agreement with English Nature as well. How will the Scheme be monitored? Our staff may need to carry out wildlife monitoring to check that management is working, and visit to check compliance with the terms of the agreement. In some cases we will ask you to complete a Record of Management Form when you claim your management payment. This will simply record what management you have done, for example when grazing started and how many stock you had on the land. When will my Agreement start? Your Agreement can start at any time as may be agreed with English Nature. In the time between applying for the Agreement and the Agreement starting you must not carry out any management which would breach the proposed Agreement. Failure to do this will result in your Agreement not being completed. Will payments be reviewed? Payments will normally remain fixed for the five years of the Agreement. Do I need to consult an agent or solicitor? This is up to you, and may be influenced by other factors that are relevant to your own circumstances. However, English Nature can confirm that the standard conditions for the Agreement have been developed following discussions with the National Farmers Union (NFU), Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), and have been finalised for us by an independent solicitor to ensure that the terms are fair and reasonable. If you choose to seek professional advice, English Nature may be willing to contribute up to 200 towards that advice, and in exceptional cases this may be increased by prior agreement. What are the relevant Acts of Parliament? The Countryside Act 1968, S.15 This gives English Nature the ability to enter into Management Agreements. The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, S.16 This also gives English Nature the ability to enter into Management Agreements, but it is used less frequently as it normally leads to the declaration of the land as a National Nature Reserve. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, S.28 (as amended by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000) This defines how SSSIs are notified and the consultations and approvals that are necessary before operations can be carried out on the land. Dropwort on species rich chalk grass at Devil s Ditch SSSI, Newmarket. Peter Wakely/English Nature 16,

5 English Nature is the Government agency that champions the conservation of wildlife and geology throughout England. This is one of a range of publications published by: External Relations Team English Nature Northminster House Peterborough PE1 1UA English Nature 2002/3 Printed on Evolution Satin, 75% recycled post-consumer waste paper, Elemental Chlorine Free. ISBN Catalogue code IN 8.4 Designed and printed by Status Design & Advertising, 2M, 3M. Front cover photographs: Top left: Bure Marshes NNR, Norfolk hay making. Peter Wakely/English Nature 14,622 Bottom left: Sheep grazing in fields in the South Cotswolds. Paul Glendell/English Nature 22,958 Main: Skipwith Common, North Yorkshire. Peter Wakely/English Nature 14,053