Changing subsidies on use of common land
Subsidy payments under the Basic Payment Scheme in relation to common land are changing, writes Louise Roberts.
The BPS rules in relation to claiming payments on common land differ to the rules of the Single Payment Scheme. The result is that those who are eligible to claim on common land potentially benefit from higher payments in relation to that land in 2015 and future years.
The rules of the previous Single Payment Scheme allowed common rights holders to claim single farm payment on a specific common, whether they actively used the common or not. As a result, the eligible area and therefore payments in relation to that common were distributed far and wide.
The rules of the new BPS are different. Only claimants and rights holders who "use" the common are allowed to add the common land to their form and claim payments.
If someone does not "use" the common they must not declare any rights they hold. The rights are then converted into a "notional share" of the eligible area of the common and payments distributed according to the share.
To demonstrate "use" and be able to include the common land on their BPS claim form farmers must be exercising rights by turning stock out onto the common, be part of an Environmental Stewardship Agreement on the common or contribute to the management of the common, for example by clearing scrub.
The eligible area of the common will then be divided between all claimants who use the land and have declared their common rights on their BPS application form. The payments are only made where the claimant holds entitlements, as with non-common land.
Where claimants find they have a larger notional eligible area on the common than they have entitlements, they should be able to apply for an allocation of additional entitlements under an appeals process during June.
Any additional entitlements allocated following a successful appeal will obviously not be allocated until after the June 15 deadline for BPS applications, but will be used for the purposes of calculating the 2015 payment due.
Alternatively, if the eligible area proves to be less than the number of entitlements held, any excess entitlements will be irretrievably lost to the national reserve.
* Louise Roberts BSc (Hons) MRICS FAAV Rural Chartered Surveyor, Halls Shrewsbury
