Natural England

Speaking at the NFU’s annual conference today (27 February), Natural England’s Chief Executive Helen Phillips has announced changes to streamline the application procedure for Higher Level Stewardship. From 1 April, to save prospective Higher Level Stewardship applicants wasting unnecessary time and money in conducting Farm Environment Plans (FEPs), there will be an initial consultation to ascertain whether or not an application has a strong chance of success.

With each FEP costing the Environmental Stewardship (ES) scheme £1500 on average, the change ensures that the scheme’s funds are focused on delivering environmental benefits. Since the HLS began in summer 2006, £235,000 has been spent on unsuccessful FEPs, equating to roughly 10% of applications. With interest in the scheme continuing to grow, so will competition for places.

Speaking at the NFU conference, Dr Phillips said: “Today’s announcement is part of Natural England’s drive to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy. Higher Level Stewardship is a highly competitive scheme and we don’t want to waste land managers' time and money on applications that have little chance of success.”

Since its launch in August 2005, more than 4 million hectares – over 40% of all farmland in England – is now entered into the Environmental Stewardship scheme. Land managers have received more than £50 million as a result.

Dr Phillips also told delegates that a new approach to distributing and targeting agri-environment funding is required to maximize environmental and other public benefits: “I believe there is a case for raising the bar on securing entry into the Entry Level Stewardship scheme, to ensure that public money secures real, large-scale environmental gains.”

Dr Phillips continued, “We also need to target more of the funding at those land managers who can best help meet the most pressing environmental challenges we face. In this context, I believe there is potential for Higher Level Stewardship to be an invitation only scheme – directed at those areas where there is the greatest need to support environmental benefits.”

Natural England will be working with Defra and stakeholders to review the targeting approach for the Environmental Stewardship scheme.

Ends

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Notes for editors:

1. A full copy of Dr Phillip’s speech is available on the Natural England website.

2. Natural England took over responsibility for the delivery of Environmental Stewardship from the Rural Development Service on 1 October 2006.

3. Environmental Stewardship was launched on 3 March 2005. It is composed of three tiers:

• Entry Level Stewardship (ELS), a whole farm scheme which aims to encourage farmers and land managers across England to deliver simple but effective environmental management;
• Organic Entry Level Stewardship (OELS), which is open to farmers who manage all or part of their land organically;
• Higher Level Stewardship (HLS), which, when combined with ELS or OELS options, aims to deliver significant environmental benefits in high priority areas.

4. Environmental Stewardship builds on the very best practice already evident in British farming. In particular, it takes forward Defra's two flagship agri-environment schemes, Environmentally Sensitive Areas and Countryside Stewardship. The primary objectives of the new scheme are to:

• Conserve wildlife (biodiversity).
• Maintain and enhance landscape quality and character.
• Protect the historic environment and natural resources.
• Promote public access and understanding of the countryside.
• Natural resource protection.

5. Environmental Stewardship (ES) is one of the Schemes which operate under the England Rural Development Programme (ERDP). The scheme replaced the Countryside Stewardship, Environmentally Sensitive Areas and Organic Farming Schemes, which are now closed to new applicants.

6. Natural England works for people, places and nature to conserve and enhance biodiversity, landscapes and wildlife in rural, urban, coastal and marine areas. We conserve and enhance the natural environment for its intrinsic value, the wellbeing and enjoyment of people, and the economic prosperity it brings.