News

The Government has announced the route between Birmingham and Crewe will see construction delayed by 2 years, with re-phasing of works to deal with "significant inflationary pressure and increased project costs". The CAAV will continue to liaise with HS2 to understand how this may impact land acquisition and will endeavour to provide an update for members at the next claimant agent meeting on 27th March 2023 (please email rebecca@caav.org.uk if you act for claimants and are not yet on the...

Following engagement from the CAAV and others, DEFRA has published updated guidance lifting the funding limits for Countryside Stewardship Capital Grant agreements. Previously, there was a cap of £20,000 for each of the 4 action groups. Published on 8th March, the new guidance states: There is no limit on either the maximum amount for any application or the amount you can apply for in each of the 4 groups (boundaries, trees and orchards, water quality air quality and natural flood...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 2nd March 2023 Eggs and then tomatoes have long been features of the rougher end of political debate but the new shortage of tomatoes might now make a sharper political point than the travails of the egg sector. In the shifting debates over food security, supplies have continued to reach shop shelves. The supply chain was seen to perform well in managing and adapting to the early days of the pandemic. However, rising food...

DEFRA has today published on its blog a run-through of the one-off grants available to farmers in 2023. The does not include capital grants under the Countryside Stewardship scheme. The post can be found here: Grants available in 2023 - Farming (blog.gov.uk). A wider look at payments available to farmers and land managers, including agri-environment schemes, can be found in this DEFRA brochure: Farming is Changing (blog.gov.uk)....

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 24th February 2023 With the Government now apparently stabilised after the events of 2022, decisions are coming steadily. Following January’s news on the English schemes for 2023 and 2024 with payment rates and the Environmental Improvement Plan, more news on productivity grants was given at the NFU AGM and then the long awaited policy development on biodiversity net gain was issued. We await much else including detail for...

The Foundation for Common Land have published on their website guidance - checked by the Rural Payments Agency - on Higher Level Stewardship agreement extensions on common land. The note is available here: https://foundationforcommonlan....

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 16th February 2023 Aid and regulation, stick and carrot, are Government’s main tools for achieving its statutory and demanding environmental targets, confirmed in December and affirmed by the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023. DEFRA January prospectus for the schemes offered in 2023 and 2024 shows us the aid and the carrot. We should not forget that role of regulations and the stick, becoming more potent as we near the...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 9th February 2023 While it seems conventional to criticise a lack of policy development, that cannot be said of the areas with which we work. The policies of the Agricultural Transition Plan were further fleshed out last month. The Environment Act, last week’s Environmental Improvement Plan and the current Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill all lay out major programmes of work. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has finally...

DEFRA has today (7th February) opened the application window for Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreements. The full guidance and more detail can be found online: Higher Tier grants 2023: Countryside Stewardship - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). For more background detail on government schemes for 2023 and 2024, see our website note of 26th January....

Landscape Recovery is DEFRA's scheme for radical, landscape scale and long-term nature restoration and creation. For more background detail, see our website note of 6th January 2022. Round 2 of the Scheme is to open in Spring 2023. In preparation, DEFRA are inviting those interested to join a series of webinars, where they will be providing information and seeking feedback from potential applicants. The webinars can be accessed at the following links: Thursday 23 February 8:00 – 9.30...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 26th January 2023 DEFRA has today set out in over a hundred pages its approach, schemes and options in England for this year and 2024. It offers six new SFI standards for 2023, each now with options, not in separate levels, and their payment rates, some now moved from Countryside Stewardship and developed. The picture is given for Countryside Stewardship, now enhanced to carry the load that had been intended for Local Nature...

DEFRA has reminded farmers to apply before the 31st January for the first round of the Slurry Infrastructure Grant. More information on eligibility and the funding available can be found in our website note of 23rd November 2023.

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 19th January 2023 Twenty years ago this week the EU Commission, then a power in Britain, published the draft legislation for the Single Payment Scheme. It being immediately clear that access to land would be the key to securing entitlements and then give access to future payments, this draft froze the agricultural land sales market. That required work and ingenuity by the CAAV and lawyers to develop the arrangements for...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 12th January 2023 DEFRA’s policy and operational decisions are now coming in fits and starts, not yet catching up with what many are seeking. December saw the announcement that Countryside Stewardship, already with some 35,000 agreement holders, would be developed to meet the larger land use objectives and local priorities previously set for the Local Nature Recovery scheme, which was not going to be seen at all until...