Glastir uptake hampered by lack of advice
The poor uptake of Wales’ land management scheme by farmers may have been due to a lack of support and advice from Welsh government officials and advisers, a report claims.
The Welsh government introduced Glastir to replace five existing environmental schemes. It was hailed as “a ground-breaking approach to land-management” in Wales.
But according to a new report scrutinising Glastir, some of the options open to farmers were unworkable because there was a lack of on-farm advice.
The Welsh Assembly’s environment and sustainability committee which published the report, issued a series of key recommendations.
It wants the Welsh government to investigate if the uptake of some options under Glastir Entry had been negatively affected by too little on-farm support.
The communication process is also under the spotlight. The committee wants further clarity on the timetable for the periodic review of payment rates.
But the committee said the scheme still had “serious communication and delivery” issues, despite changes introduced by the deputy farming minister, Alun Davies AM.
It wants the Welsh government to deliver an update on progress by January.
The government said it would respond to the report in due course: “We have yet to receive a copy of this report. We will respond when we have seen a copy and had time to consider our response,” it said in a statement.
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