LESS FAVOURED AREAS SUPPORT England and Wales

10 May 2002

LESS FAVOURED AREAS SUPPORT England and Wales

DESPITE coming under the Rural Development Regulation, these payments are much more like the traditional subsidies under the CAP – they are available as of right to all farmers in designated Less Favoured Areas (LFAs), and there is no element of bidding or competition.

Under the Agenda 2000 reforms it was agreed that hill farm support should be changed from a headage-based payment to area-based payments. The old Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowance Scheme (HLCAs) was replaced by the Hill Farm Allowance (HFA) Scheme in England and Tir Mynydd Scheme in Wales starting for the 2001 scheme year. Minor changes are expected for both schemes for 2002, resulting from foot-and-mouth, but details are not available as we go to press.

Eligibility

Area payments will be made to farmers who extensively graze eligible land with sheep breeding flocks and suckler cows in LFAs from 2001. The scheme does not support LFA land used for dairy farming or other new enterprises such as deer farming. To be eligible for payments producers must:

&#8226 Have at least 10ha of eligible LFA land in England or 6ha of LFA land in Wales on their

previous years IACS area aid declaration.

&#8226 Undertake to farm in the LFA for five years from the first

payment.

&#8226 Have a stocking density of at least 0.15LU/ha in England and at least 0.1LU/ha in Wales.

&#8226 Meet the requirements of Good Farming Practice and not use prohibited substances.

Payments

Under both schemes, payments are made up of a basic payment, an optional environmental enhancement and a safety-net mechanism.

Basic payments – these payments are different for the two schemes (see table).

Environmental enhancements – producers can increase their basic payments by 10% or 20% by undertaking mixed farming practices and animal husbandry that satisfies certain criteria. England has different criteria to Wales.

Safety net – designed to compensate producers whose payments will be less than their 2000 HLCA payment.

Applications

England: DEFRA Rural Development Service

(see this page for contact details).

Wales: NAWAD Divisional offices (see this page for contact details).

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005/6

Moorland 13.02 11.91 11.76 11.27 9.39

Common land 13.02 11.91 11.76 11.27 9.39

Other disadvantaged land 18.60 17.03 16.80 16.11 13.42

Other severely disadvantaged land 34.40 31.49 31.08 29.80 24.82

Full rate is paid on the first 350ha, half rate on the next 350ha and nothing on land in excess of 700ha.

Wales – Tir Mynydd

2001 2002/6

Disadvantaged land 23.00 23.00

Severely disadvantaged 35.00 35.00

Full rate is paid on the first 140ha, 65% on the next 500ha and 30% for land in excess of 640ha.

&#8226 East (Beds, Cambs, Essex, Herts, Norfolk and Suffolk) Block B, Government Buildings, Brooklands Avenue, Cambridge, CB2 2DR. Tel: 01223-455823. Email: martin.r.edwards@defra.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 East Midlands (Derbys, Leics, Lincs, Northants, Notts and Rutland) Block 7, Government Buildings, Chalfont Drive, Nottingham, NG8 3SN. Tel:0115-929 1191 ext 308. Email: sue.buckenham@defra.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 West Midlands Region (Herefords, Staffs, Shrops, Warwicks, Worcs and the W Mids) Block B, Government Buildings, Whittington Road, Worcester, WR5 2LQ. Tel 01905-763355 ext 8274. Email: carol.deakins@defra.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 South West Region (Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, the former Avon, Dorset, Wilts and Glos, Isles of Scilly) Block 3, Government Buildings, Burghill Road, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, BS10 6NJ. Tel 0117-950 1000 ext 3500. Email: david.sisson@defra.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 North West Region (Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Lancs and Cumbria) Electra Way, Crewe, CW1 6GJ. Tel 01270-754000. Email: tony.percival@defra.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 North East Region (Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Durham and the former county of Cleveland) Government Buildings, Kenton Bar, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE5 3EW. Tel: 0191-2141800. Email: fiona.gough@defra.gov.uk

&#8226 South East & London Regions (Berks, Bucks, Oxon, East and West Sussex, Hants, Isle of Wight, Kent and Greater London) Government Buildings, Coley Park, Reading RG1 6DT. Tel: 0118-939 2207. Email: nick.beard@defra.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Yorkshire and Humberside (N Yorks, E Yorks, W Yorks and the former county of Humberside) Government Buildings, Otley Road, Lawnswood, Leeds LS16 5QT. Tel: 0113-230 3900. Email: mike.silverwood@defra.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Fuller details of phone numbers etc are available on: www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/contacts/regions/default.htm. Scheme documentation can also be downloaded from the DEFRA web-site at: www.defra.gov.uk/erdp/default.htm

NAWAD LOCAL DIVISIONAL OFFICES – WALES

&#8226 Llandrindod Wells Divisional Office, Government Buildings, Spa Road East, Llandrindod Wells, Powys, LD1 5HA. Tel: 01597-823777

&#8226 Caernarfon Divisional Office, Penrallt, Caernarfon, Gwynedd, LL55 1EP. Tel: 01286-674144

&#8226 Carmarthen Divisional Office, Government Buildings, Picton Terrace, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, SA31 3BT. Tel: 01267-225300

&#8226 Details of schemes can be found on: www.wales.gov.uk/subiagriculture/index.htm

HEAD OFFICE

&#8226 Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department, Pentland House, 47 Robbs Loan, Edinburgh, EH14 1TY. Tel: 0131 2446015. A lot of information can be found on SEERADs web-site (www.scotland.gov.uk/agri/)

LOCAL SEERAD AREA OFFICE ADDRESSES

&#8226 Ayr Russell House, King Street, Ayr KA8 0BE. Tel: 01292-610188, Email: SEERAD.Ayr@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Benbecula Balivanich, Isle of Benbecula, PA88 5LA. Tel: 01870-602346, Email: SEERAD.Benbecula@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Dumfries Government Buildings, 161 Brooms Road, Dumfries, DG1 3ES. Tel: 01387-255292, Email: SEERAD.Dumfries@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Dundee Northern College of Education Buildings, Gardyne Road, Broughty Ferry, Dundee, DD5 1PE. Tel: 01382-462840, Email: SEERAD.Dundee@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Elgin 32 Reidhaven Street, Elgin, IV30 1VE. Tel: 01343-547514, Email: SEERAD.Elgin@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Galashiels Cotgreen Road, Tweedbank, Galashiels, TD1 3SG. Tel: 01896-758333, Email: SEERAD.Galashiels@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Hamilton Cadzow Court, 3 Wellhall Road, Hamilton, ML3 9BG. Tel: 01698-281166, Email: SEERAD.Hamilton@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Inverness Longman House, 28 Longman Road, Inverness, IV1 1SF. Tel: 01463-234141, Email: SEERAD.Inverness@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Inverurie Thainstone Court, By Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, AB51 5YA. Tel: 01467-626222, Email: SEERAD.Thainstone@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Kirkwall Tankerness Lane, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1AQ. Tel: 01856-875444, Email: SEERAD.Kirkwall@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Lairg Ord Croft, Lairg, Sutherland, IV27 4AZ. Tel: 01549-402167, Email: SEERAD.Lairg@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Lerwick Charlotte House, Commercial Road, Lerwick, ZE1 0HZ. Tel: 01595-695054, Email: SEERAD.Lerwick@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Oban Cameron House, Albany Street, Oban, PA34 4AE. Tel: 01631-563071, Email: SEERAD.Oban@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Perth 1 Mill Street, Perth, PH1 5HZ. Tel: 01738-443266 Email: SEERAD.Perth@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Portree Estates Office, Portree, Isle of Skye, IV51 9DH. Tel: 01478-612516, Email: SEERAD.Portree@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Stirling 2 St Ninians Road, Stirling, FK8 2HR. Tel: 01786-473272, Email: SEERAD.Stirling@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Stornoway 10 Keith Street, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, HS7 2QG. Tel: 01851-702392, Email: SEERAD.Stornoway@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

&#8226 Thurso Strathbeg House, Clarence Street, Thurso, VW14 7JS. Tel: 01847-893104, Email: SEERAD.Thurso@scotland.gsi.gov.uk