Environment schemes must be kept when land’s sold

Environmental Stewardship schemes can no longer be transferred to new occupiers when land is sold – until rural development rules are decided.


Natural England has said that agreements for Entry Level Stewardship, Higher Level Stewardship, Organic Level Stewardship and Uplands Entry Level Stewardship may not be passed from sellers to buyers, as has been common practice when land changes hands.


Older schemes like Countryside Stewardship are unaffected.


However, a transfer notice must still be submitted to Natural England even though it cannot process it until the transitional rules are finalised.


“It is still a little bit of a grey area. Natural England still have not released any detailed guidance on what you should do,” said Savills agribusiness consultant Craig Hodgson.


“Contractually you are still obliged to tell them but they cannot do anything at their end to transfer it.”


Savills has advised that, in the short term, the original agreement holder could hold onto the contract while the new occupier carried out the stewardship scheme in a dual-use arrangement.


It also said agreement holders should set out detailed management guidelines for new occupiers to follow, in order to protect the original occupier.


“If there is an RPA inspection they will want to see that there is an official document in place to show the relationship between the farmer and the agreement holder,” Mr Hodgson said.


“The guidelines must be carefully worded so my advice is to speak to a land agent and they can put the necessary paperwork in place.”
Craig Hodgson, Savills agribusiness consultant

“The agreement holder must be able to show sufficient management control of the land and show that the tenant can meet the demands of the scheme.


“The guidelines must be carefully worded so my advice is to speak to a land agent and they can put the necessary paperwork in place.”


Under such an arrangement, the previous landholder will retain the stewardship agreement but any income on it should be passed on to the new occupier.


An alternative for those on new Environmental Stewardship schemes is to cancel the scheme before their first payment is received.


This would apply to those who started a scheme in June 2013 or more recently. “We are hoping that the situation will be resolved around February time with clear guidance what to do,” Mr Hodgson said.


“We do not know how the CAP reform will affect them, but until then it is all speculation.”


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