New Countryside Stewardship Scheme

Liz Truss, DEFRA Secretary has launched a new Bee and Pollinator Strategy.  The aim is, over the next ten years, to improve pollinator numbers and their geographical spread. Forget sustainable intensification, ‘pollinator’ now seems to be the new policy buzz word (excuse the pun).  The strategy aims to improve the situation across both rural and urban areas.  One of the key areas of the strategy is supporting pollinators on farmland.  A number of approaches are to be adopted to create and improve habitats.  These include mandatory measures (i.e. Greening), incentivised programmes (the CSS), and voluntary measures (Campaign for the Farmed Environment).  As part of the strategy, information about Integrated Pest Management (IPM) will be reviewed and updated and more engagement with farmers is promised through on farm demonstrations, workshops and farm walks.

Sharp-eyed readers may have seen the acronym ‘CSS’ in the previous paragraph.  This refers to the Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) which is going to be the name of the new environmental land management scheme (previously referred to as NELMS).  This is not a typo, and, yes, it is the same name as the ‘classic’ scheme available prior to ELS / HLS.  It has flummoxed us that this name has been chosen.  Not only does it create confusion between the old and the new schemes but, from our recollection, it was never even suggested as one of the possible names; so much for us being able to vote for the name!

In terms of scheme details, we don’t know that much more than when we wrote about NELMs 12 months ago.  Even then we knew there would be a Higher tier focusing on priority sites (rather like the HLS), and a Middle tier focusing on wider areas.  This element is open to all, but competitive – so only the best schemes will be accepted.  There will also be a small scale capital grants scheme focussing on field boundaries.  Funds available for the new scheme are not going to be life-changing.  Around £2bn in already allocation to existing schemes leaving CSS with a budget of £900 million.  Payments for CSS agreements have not yet been published, but with no points target each agreement will have its own value. According to Natural England the average farm (whatever that is!) can expect a Middle Tier agreement to be worth around £5,000-£7,000 per year, on many farms this will not be as generous as an existing ELS scheme.

The scheme will include a dedicated Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package with payments available for hedgerow maintenance, providing year round forage and nesting sites for insects.  DEFRA is providing an additional £350,000 over three years to encourage farmers to chose these options.  The Campaign for the Farmed Environment (CFE) will also play a key role by encouraging voluntary measures, the uptake of these will be reviewed in 2015 ready for the Europeans Commissions review of Greening in 2016. There has always been talk of the Ecological Focus Area (EFA) being increased to 7% in 2017.  If not enough voluntary measures are taken up this becomes more likely. The EU could also force the issue with rules becoming more prescriptive on where, when and how Greening options are sited and managed.

Applications for the new CSS will be open from July to September 2015 for a 1^st January 2016 start date. More information is due to be published towards the end of November.  

The full National Pollinator Strategy can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pollinator-strategy-for-bees-and-other-pollinators-in-england. The Bees’ Needs advice for land managers and gardeners can be found at http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/Bees-needs.