More CSS Details published September 9, 2015 12:00 am Even more information has been published on the Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS). This includes a number of clarifications and deadline extensions; When CSS includes organic land, the applicant must be an ‘active farmer’ in the same way as under the BPS. If they have not submitted a BP5 and require the ‘income’ route to be deemed active an Active Farmer Certificate should be completed and submitted with the CSS application Supporting documents and evidence must be submitted by 15th December 2015 The Historic Environment Farm Environment Record (HEFER) must be submitted by 31st October 2015 It will not be necessary to submit photographs of options with the annual claim. However checks will be made on a sample of claimants. ‘Before’ and ‘after’ photographs will remain a requirement for some options but it will no longer be necessary to have ‘geotagged’ photographs to show the location of where it was taken. A Higher Tier sample application form along with application Guidance is now available from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/countryside-stewardship-higher-tier-application-form The decision on dual use is still awaited.
