Title, commencement and extent

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Hill Farm Allowance Regulations 2001, shall come into force on 19th March 2001 and, subject to paragraph (2), shall apply to England.

(2) Paragraph 1 of Schedule 3, and regulation 10 in so far as it relates to that paragraph, shall also apply to Scotland.

Interpretation

2. —(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

• “the 1975 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1975 ;

• “the 1979 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1979 ;

• “the 1984 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1984 ;

• “the 1994 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1994 ;

• “the 1996 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1996 ;

• “the 1999 Regulations” means the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1999 ;

• “agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming and livestock breeding and keeping, the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and the use of land for woodlands where that use is ancillary to the use of land for other agricultural purposes, and “agricultural” shall be construed accordingly;

• “area aid application” has the same meaning as in Article 6 of Council Regulation 3508/92;

• “claimant” means any person who has made a claim for compensatory allowance and “claim” shall be construed accordingly;

• “claimed forage area” means land which has been entered as forage area in an area aid application for the year 2000;

• “Commission” means the Commission of the European Communities;

• “Commission Regulation 1750/1999” means Commission Regulation Council Regulation 1257/1999, as amended by Commission Regulation

• “Commission Regulation 2316/1999” means Commission Regulation Commission Regulation 2860/2000 ;

• “Commission Regulation 2342/1999” means Commission Regulation Commission Regulation

• “common land” means any land which is registered as common land with grazing rights under the Commons Registration Act 1965 ;

• “Council Regulation 3508/92” means Council Regulation

• “Council Regulation 1254/1999” means Council Regulation

• “Council Regulation 1257/1999” means Council Regulation Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF);

• “designated maps” means the three volumes of maps numbered 1 to 3, each volume being marked “Volume of maps of less-favoured farming areas in England”, dated 20th May 1991, signed and sealed by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and deposited at the offices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SWIP 3HX;

• “disadvantaged land” (except in the expression “severely disadvantaged land”) means land shown coloured blue on the designated maps;

• “eligible land” means land within the less favoured area or relevant afforested land;

• “eligible forage area” means such part of the relevant forage area as lies within a less favoured area;

• “ewe” means a female sheep which is at least one year old, or has lambed, on 1st January 2001;

• “first compensatory allowance” means hill farm allowance or, where a compensatory allowance has been paid under the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations, the first payment of that allowance;

• “forage area” has the same meaning as in Article 12(2)(b) of Council Regulation 1254/1999;

• “heifer” has the same meaning as in Article 3 of Council Regulation 1254/1999;

• “hill farm allowance” means the compensatory allowance payable in accordance with regulations 7 and 8 of these Regulations and with Chapter V of Title II of Council Regulation 1257/1999;

• “Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations” means the 1994 Regulations, the 1996 Regulations or the 1999 Regulations, as the case may be;

• “holding” has the same meaning as in Article 1 of Council Regulation 3508/92;

• “individual reference quantity of milk” has the same meaning as in Article 31 of Commission Regulation 2342/1999;

• “less favoured area” means all that land coloured blue or pink on the designated maps and land situate in the Isles of Scilly;

• “livestock unit” means a unit of measurement of livestock numbers, and the following constitute a single livestock unit—

  (a)

  one suckler cow or a heifer if aged 24 months or over;

  (b)

  1.67 heifers under the age of 24 months; or

  (c)

  6.67 ewes;

• “Minister” means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food;

• “moorland” means all that land which is shown as less favoured area in the designated maps and which is also depicted in pink in the three volumes of maps entitled “Moorland Map of England 1992” each volume being marked with the number of the volume, dated 20th February 2001, signed by the Minister of State and deposited at the offices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR;

• “notional livestock density” means the number of livestock units per hectare of eligible forage area, calculated as a fraction of which the numerator is the number of relevant animals expressed in livestock units and the denominator is the claimant’s eligible forage area expressed in hectares;

• “Organic Farming schemes” means the aid schemes made under the Organic Farming (Aid) Regulations 1994 or the Organic Farming Regulations 1999 as the case may be;

• “permanent pasture” has the meaning specified in Article 2.1 of, and Annex I to, Commission Regulation 2316/1999;

• “registered organic farmer” means a claimant who is registered with UKROFS or with an organisation that is itself registered with UKROFS and who, in the year 2000 was—

  (a)

  not in receipt of aid under one of the Organic Farming schemes; or

  (b)

  not undergoing conversion to organic farming;

• “relevant afforested land” means land which, in the opinion of the Minister, was converted to forest on or after 1st January 1986 and before 1st January 1988 by or on behalf of a person to whom a compensatory allowance was paid in respect of the land under the 1975 Regulations, the 1979 Regulations or the 1984 Regulations before the date when the conversion to forest was completed, but such land shall cease to be relevant afforested land for the purposes of these Regulations 15 years after the date on which such conversion was completed;

• “relevant animals” means the suckler cows, heifers and ewes in respect of which a claimant, in the year 2000, applied for suckler cow premium or, as the case may be, sheep annual premium;

• “relevant forage area” means the claimed forage area or, in relation to a claimant in relation to whom regulation 9 applies, such part of the claimed forage area as results from the deductions made to the relevant forage area in accordance with that regulation;

• “severely disadvantaged land” means land shown coloured pink on the designated maps and land situate in the Isles of Scilly;

• “sheep annual premium” means the premium payable under the Sheep Annual Premium Regulations 1992 ;

• “suckler cow” shall have the same meaning as in Article 3 of Council Regulation 1254/1999;

• “suckler cow premium” means the premium payable under the Suckler Cow Premium Regulations 1993 ; and

• “UKROFS” means the United Kingdom Register of Organic Food Standards;

(2) Any reference in these Regulations to a Community instrument is a reference to that instrument as amended on the date on which these Regulations are made.

(3) Any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation (with no corresponding reference to a specific instrument) is a reference to the regulation so numbered in these Regulations and any reference to the Schedule is a reference to the Schedule to these Regulations.

(4) A reference in these Regulations to anything done in writing or produced in written form includes a reference to an electronic communication which has been recorded and is consequently capable of being reproduced.

Power to make payments

3. Subject to regulation 5, the Minister shall make payments of hill farm allowance in respect of the year 2001 to any claimant who is eligible under regulation 4 in respect of any eligible forage area.

Eligibility of producers for hill farm allowance

4. —(1) Subject to Article 14.2 of Council Regulation 1257/1999 (third indent), and to regulation 5, a claimant shall be eligible for hill farm allowance provided—

(a) his claim is made in an area aid application submitted in the year 2000;

(b) an area of at least ten hectares of claimed forage area entered in that area aid application lies within a less favoured area; and

(c) subject to paragraph (2), the notional livestock density on the eligible forage area is not less than 0.15 livestock units.

(2) The Minister may determine that a notional livestock density of less than 0.15 livestock units is sufficient for the purposes of paragraph (1)(c) if he is reasonably satisfied that it is appropriate to do so in all the circumstances of the case, having regard, in particular, to the number of animals other than relevant animals kept on the eligible forage area and any other obligation of the claimant as to the number of animals that may be kept on the land comprising the eligible forage area.

(3) In order to enable him to consider whether to exercise his discretion under paragraph (2), the Minister shall be provided with such information as he reasonably may require.

Conditions as to continued use of eligible land

5.Hill farm allowance shall not be paid to a claimant unless—

(a) he has given a written undertaking, in such forms as the Minister may reasonably require, that he will or would, for a period of five years from the date of payment of the first compensatory allowance, continue to use at least ten hectares of eligible land for agriculture; and

(b) he is not in breach of that undertaking at the date of payment.

Release from undertaking

6. A claimant is released from the undertaking referred to in regulation 5—

(a) if he is prevented from continuing to discharge that undertaking by reason of any material circumstance beyond his control; or

(b) if he ceases farming and at least ten hectares of the eligible land last used by him for the grazing of animals continue to be used for agriculture.

Rates of payment

7. —(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) and to regulations 8 and 9, payments of hill farm allowance in respect of the descriptions of eligible forage area specified in column 1 of Schedule 1 shall be made—

(a) in relation to the first 350 hectares of eligible forage area in respect of which the claim is made, at the rates specified in column 2 of Schedule 1;

(b) in relation to the next 350 hectares of eligible forage area in respect of which the claim is made, at one half of the rates specified in column 2 of Schedule 1.

(2) Subject to regulation 4(1)(b), if the notional livestock density is less than 1.0, the payment shall be increased by 20%.

(3) Except where paragraph (2) applies, the total amount payable to a claimant shall be increased by 10% if the claimant satisfies any one of the following criteria, and by 20% if he satisfies any two or more such criteria—

(a) the claimant is a registered organic farmer;

(b) the claimant—

(i) in the year 2000, submitted applications for both sheep annual premium and suckler cow premium; and

(ii) the number of suckler cows in respect of which he applied for suckler cow premium in that year is equal to at least 15% of the relevant animals;

(c) the notional livestock density is less than 1.2;

(d) at least one hectare, or 5% (whichever is the smaller), of the claimant’s eligible land is planted with arable crops or woodland in respect of which the claimant is not receiving any other financial support and was not converted from permanent pasture after the year 1998.

Increments to payment

8. —(1) After calculating the amount payable to each claimant as provided by regulation 7, the Minister may, if he thinks fit, increase that amount by a fixed percentage provided that—

(a) such increase does not exceed 20% of that amount; and

(b) the percentage increase is the same for each claimant.

(2) If the amount payable to a claimant by virtue of regulation 7 and paragraph (1) is less than 90% of the compensatory allowance paid to that claimant in respect of the year 2000, he shall be paid, in addition to that sum, such further sum as is necessary to increase the total hill farm allowance payable to him to 90% of the compensatory allowance paid to him in respect of that year, or, if less, such proportion of that further sum as relates to the claimed forage area which was entered in his area aid application for that year and which lies within a less favoured area.

Exclusion of forage area

9. In relation to any claimant who has an individual reference quantity of milk available to him, the deductions specified in Schedule 2 shall apply to the claimed forage area for the purposes of determining the relevant forage area.

Holdings situate partly outside England

10. The provisions of Schedule 3 shall apply in relation to holdings situate partly outside England.

regulation 7(1)

SCHEDULE 1 PAYMENT RATES PER HECTARE

regulation 9

SCHEDULE 2 DEDUCTIONS FROM CLAIMED FORAGE AREA

1. If, on 31st March 2000, a claimant had available to him an individual reference quantity of milk, the claimed forage area shall, subject to paragraph 4 of Schedule 3, be subject to the deductions specified in paragraph 4.

2. The deductions shall be calculated by reference to the number of livestock units deemed to constitute the dairy herd kept by the claimant on land in England (“the notional dairy herd”), determined in accordance with paragraph 3.

3. The notional dairy herd shall be calculated as follows—

4. The deductions to claimed forage area shall be made as follows—

(a) X hectares shall be deducted from A, where X is equal to the lesser of—

(i) TLU÷ 2; and

(ii) A;

(b) if TLU is greater than 2X, Y hectares shall be deducted from B, where Y is equal to the lesser of—

(i) (TLU - 2X)÷ 1.4; and

(ii) B;

(c) if TLU is greater than 2X + (1.4 x Y), Z hectares shall be deducted from C, where Z is equal to the lesser of—

(i) TLU - (2A + (1.4 x Y)); and

(ii) C;

• where—

• “A” is the number of hectares of relevant forage area not within a less favoured area;

• “B” is the number of hectares of relevant forage area which is disadvantaged land or severely disadvantaged land, in each case other than moorland or common land;

• “C” is the number of hectares of relevant forage area which is moorland or common land; and

• “TLU” is the total number of livestock units in the notional dairy herd.

regulations 1(2) and 10

SCHEDULE 3 HOLDINGS SITUATE PARTLY OUTSIDE ENGLAND

Agency arrangements

1. —(1) The Minister may arrange for any of his functions under these Regulations in relation to any claim in respect of a holding situate partly in Scotland to be exercised on his behalf by the Scottish Ministers, and may agree to exercise any corresponding functions on behalf of the Scottish Ministers.

(2) Any such arrangement shall be in writing and be signed by or on behalf of the Minister and the Scottish Ministers and any such arrangement may be subject to such conditions (including conditions as to the costs and charge for costs) as may be agreed from time to time.

Set-off

2. —(1) In relation to a holding situate partly outside England, the amount of any sum payable by the Minister by way of hill farm allowance, whether as principal or on behalf of any other competent authority, may, without prejudice to the amount of any sum payable by the Minister to any other competent authority, be set-off against the amount of any sum recoverable by the Minister, whether as principal or on behalf of such competent authority.

(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1), “other competent authority” means the Scottish Ministers, the National Assembly for Wales or, in Northern Ireland, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Apportionment of livestock units

3. Where any holding in respect of which a claim has been made is situate partly outside England, the number of livestock units grazed on that part of the holding which is situate in England shall be calculated as follows:

Apportionment of individual reference quantity of milk

4. Where any holding in respect of which a claim has been made is situate partly outside England, the individual reference quantity of milk which shall be treated as available to a claimant in relation to his land in England shall be calculated as follows: