On 16 November the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced details of its “newEnvironmental Stewardship [ES] payment schedule”, which will cap funding for maintaining and restoring traditional farm buildings in favour of re-focusing “resources on key environmental issues such as protecting wildlife and reducing water pollution.”
Environmental Stewardship (ES) is an agri-environment scheme that offers payments to farmers and land managers inEngland for effective land management to protect and enhance the rural environment (including the historic elements of the rural environment) and wildlife. To “protect the historic environment” and to “maintain and enhance landscape quality and character” are two of the scheme’s five primary objectives; yet the Department has taken the decision to impose a cap of £150,000 over a three-year period on payments for the maintenance and restoration of Traditional Farm Buildings (TFB). According to the Department’s press statement “this will free up funds for other Stewardship priorities”, seemingly wildlife protection and the ‘natural’ environment.
Co-Chair of the Heritage Alliance’s Rural Advocacy Group, Jonathan Thompson, said: “The Heritage Alliance believes strongly that any such division between the historic and natural environment is artificial. The natural landscape cannot be treated in isolation from its cultural significance – an interplay that is recognised in the European Landscape Convention to which the UK Government is a signatory. The Alliance’s Rural Advocacy Group champions a holistic approach to rural policy whereby stewardship of the landscape as a whole – natural and historic elements together – is recognised and promoted.”
DEFRA News: LINK
