The Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Dartmoor) Designation (Amendment) Order 1999

• Citation: S.I. 1999/2236
• Sections: 23

Section 1 Title and commencement

This Order may be cited as the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Dartmoor) Designation (Amendment) Order 1999 and shall come into force on 31st August 1999.

Section 2 Interpretation

In this Order “the principal Order ” means the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Dartmoor) Designation Order 1994 .

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;

“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 and includes meadowland, pasture and rough grazing;

“improved permanent grassland” means permanent grassland that is regularly treated with fertilisers, and used for pasture or for the production of hay or silage;

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

“low input permanent grassland” means grassland used for pasture of hay or silage production, which receives little or no fertiliser and which has the potential to develop or has developed botanical diversity;

“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 31st August 1999;

“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 to this Order; 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 to this Order.

Section 6 Amendment of the principal Order

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

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 to this Order; 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 the 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 of the principal Order shall be deleted–

(a) Articles 6 and 7; and

(b) Schedules 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Section 1

Maintenance of cultivated land

Section 1

Species-rich hay meadows

Section 2

Maintenance of improved permanent grassland

Section 2

Enhanced management of heather moorland

Section 3

Maintenance of low input permanent grassland

Section 4

Maintenance of unimproved pasture and enclosed rough land

Section 5

Where maintenance of the kind referred to in item 4 above is undertaken, additional management for the purposes of enhancing biodiversity through the temporary exclusion of livestock

Section 6

In relation to moorland:

(a) maintenance of moorland

Section 7

Re-creation and management of moorland

Section 8

In relation to woodland:

(a) maintenance of existing woodland

Section 9

Hedge management

Section 10

Wall or bank restoration

Section 11

The provision of public access routes

Section 12

Management of any kind referred to in items 1 to 10 above which is undertaken in relation to common land