The Environmentally Sensitive Areas (North Kent Marshes) Designation (Amendment) Order 1998

• Citation: S.I. 1998/1304
• Sections: 14

Section 1 Title and commencement

This Order may be cited as the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (North Kent Marshes) Designation (Amendment) Order 1998 and shall come into force on 22nd June 1998.

Section 2 Interpretation

In this Order “the principal Order ” means the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (North Kent Marshes) Designation (Amendment) Order 1993 , as amended at the date that this Order comes into force.

Section 3 Amendment of the principal Order

The principal Order shall be amended in accordance with the following provisions of this Order.

Section 4 Amendment of the principal Order

In article 2(1) of the principal Order, the provisions immediately following the words “In this Order—” to the end of article 2(1), in so far as they were made under section 18 of the Agriculture Act 1986, shall be deleted and the following definitions shall be inserted at their appropriate alphabetical place:

“agreement” means an agreement under section 18(3) of the Agriculture Act 1986 as respects agricultural land in the area designated by article 3;

“buffer strip” means a strip of land which is subject to a prohibition on the use of fertilisers and pesticides, is at least six metres wide and is located at the edge of a field used for the production of arable crops and which adjoins an open drainage channel;

“capital activity” means an activity specified in Schedule 1;

“conservation plan” means a plan incorporated into an agreement for the carrying out of one or more capital activities within a specified period;

“cultivated land” means land which is regularly ploughed or otherwise cultivated or that is regularly treated with fertilisers;

“farmer” means a person who has an interest in agricultural land in the area designated by article 3, and who has also entered into an agreement with the Minister;

“grassland” means land on which the vegetation consists primarily of grass species;

“management activity” means an activity specified in Schedule 2;

“permanent grassland” means grassland which has not been ploughed or reseeded for at least five years;

“public access route” means a strip of land which is the subject of an agreement and on which access is given to the public;

“relevant date” means 22nd June 1998; and

“woodland” means land used for woodland where that use is ancillary to the farming of land for other agricultural purposes.

Section 5 Amendment of the principal Order

For article 4 of the principal Order and the heading thereto there shall be substituted the following article and heading—

Matters in respect of which payments may be made

(4) A payment to be made by the Minister under an agreement may be made in respect of—

(a) a capital activity; or

(b) a management activity which—

(i) in the case of a payment to be made under an agreement entered into before the relevant date, is specified in Part I or Part II of Schedule 2; and

(ii) in the case of a payment to be made under an agreement entered into on or after the relevant date, is specified in Part I of Schedule 2.

Section 6 Amendment of the principal Order

For article 5 of the principal Order and the heading thereto there shall be substituted the following article and heading—

Rates of payment

(5)

(1) Payments to be made by the Minister under an agreement shall not exceed—

(a) in the case of a management activity, the rate specified in respect of that activity in column 2 of Schedule 2; and

(b) in the case of one or more capital activities included in a conservation plan, £100,000 in aggregate.

(2) Any works which form part of an activity which constitutes both a management activity and a capital activity may by virtue of an agreement be eligible for payment either as part of a management activity or as part of a capital activity, but the agreement together with any conservation plan incorporated in it shall not provide for payment to be made on both such bases in respect of the same works.

Section 7 Amendment of the principal Order

For Schedule 1 to the principal Order there shall be substituted Schedule set out in Schedule 1 to this Order.

Section 8 Amendment of the principal Order

For Schedule 2 to the principal Order there shall be substituted the Schedule set out in Schedule 2 to this Order.

Section 9 Amendment of the principal Order

The following provisions shall be deleted—

(a) articles 4A and 6; and

(b) Schedules 1A, 3 and 4.

Section 1

Management of permanent grassland.

Section 2

Management of grassland so as to bring about and maintain high water levels.

Section 3

In relation to cultivated land:

(a) reversion of arable land to grassland

Section 4

Maintenance of woodland.

Section 5

The provision of public access routes.