The Countryside Stewardship Scheme was originally an agri-environment scheme run by the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Government set up in 1991. In its original form it expired in 2014. It was relaunched for the Rural Development Programme England (RDPE) 2014-2020 with £3.1bn of government

subsidy A subsidy, subvention or government incentive is a type of government expenditure for individuals and households, as well as businesses with the aim of stabilizing the economy. It ensures that individuals and households are viable by having acc ...

for agriculture and forestry, replacing the previous Environmental Stewardship scheme. Countryside Stewardship: *will contribute around £900 million to help protect and improve our environment. *will be open to all eligible farmers, foresters and land managers *is a competitive targeted scheme, with grants awarded to those who will make the biggest improvements in their local area. *replaces Environmental Stewardship (ES), the English Woodland Grant Scheme (EWGS) and capital grants from the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) programme. Forestry Commission and Natural England will jointly delivery Countryside Stewardship. Natural England will broadly lead on the set up and delivery of transactional services for Countryside Stewardship for the first year of the new scheme.

Former CSS (1991-2014)

In its first guise introduced as a five-year pilot project by the

Countryside Commission The Countryside Commission (formally the Countryside Commission for England and Wales, then the Countryside Commission for England) was a statutory body in England and Wales, and later in England only. Its forerunner, the National Parks Commissi ...

in 1991, the scheme aimed to improve the environmental value of farmland throughout

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The administration of the scheme was taken over by the

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

(MAFF) on 1 April 1996, and the scheme expanded to include new landscapes and features, including whole farm plans for restoring and recreating traditional walls and ditches, wildlife corridors in arable areas using uncropped margins in arable fields (with management to benefit associated wild flowers and birds), traditional buildings, and old meadows and pastures (important for maintaining and increasing biodiversity). In the meantime, the scheme was incorporated under the umbrella of the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

's 'agri-environment’ programme which aims to protect the environment and the countryside through the promotion of green farming practices, which enabled grants to be part-funded through the Community. The scheme was incorporated into the

England Rural Development Programme England Rural Development Programme was the instrument by which the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ( Defra) fulfilled its rural development obligations in England, as set out by the European Union. It is derived primarily ...

on 1 January 2000. In 2005, there were 16,636 agreement holders with 531,280 hectares under agreement.Defra.gov.uk
, Countryside Stewardship and Environmentally Sensitive Areas Schemes: Report on performance 2003/04 and 2004/05 page 4 The Countryside Stewardship Scheme closed to new applications in 2004 with the introduction of the Environmental stewardship (England) Scheme. Existing agreements continue to be honoured; the last agreements will expire in 2014. The scheme is currently administered by staff at

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) 2014-2020

From 2014 to 2020 Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) was originally adopted by the European Commission on 13 February 2015. The document follows the format laid down in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EC) No 808/2014.

References

External links

Forestry Commission 2015 Webinar

GOV.UK Countryside Stewardship main page
Conservation in the United Kingdom United Kingdom environmental management schemes {{agri-stub