Rural Payments and Services

Further information is provided below in regard to some of the changes to guidance that were introduced for the 2018 AECS application round.

Collaboration

Whilst older AECS contracts can be included in the general information about a Collaborative project, only AECS contracts awarded in 2017 and applications submitted in 2018 will be considered for collaboration points this year.

This is due to the fact that contracts must be run concurrently to ensure activities are being undertaken collaboratively over the lifetime of the contract between all farms.

Watermargin Fencing

The capital item wording for stock fencing was amended for 2018 to clarify when a new fence can be funded, with the following wording added:

“Please note, in light of the aim of this capital item, if there is a current stock fence in place and it is not derelict and would last the five years of an AECS agreement then funding for a new stock fence would not be considered acceptable. Current and proposed grazing practices will also be considered in determining if the stock fence is necessary/beneficial for a particular management option. Stock fence would only be eligible in relation to a capital item if it was required to protect the capital item or to protect people and livestock e.g. fencing off a newly created swale”.

In certain circumstances, we may allow the funding of a new fence to create a wider water margin where the existing fenced margin is too narrow.

The new margin should meet the required minimum width from the top of the bank (dependent on size of water body) and create a margin at least 2m wider than that enclosed by the existing fenceline. For all cases, the current fence must be removed at the owners’ expense and disposed of appropriately.

Wader Management on Heath Mosaics

This is a new sub option within the Heath Management option to fund management on areas used by breeding waders, which have previously been managed under the habitat mosaic option, but which no longer meet the eligibility criteria, due to having a higher coverage of heath or bog habitat.

The option is not for areas previously managed under the agri-environment Moorland Management option, which should continue to be managed as moorland. Areas must be a mosaic of habitat types and fall within the target area for the wader grazed grassland option.

Full details can be found here.

Grazing Management Plans

For several options, you must submit a Grazing Management plan. There are links to Grazing Management plan templates on each option page that requires one, and it is advised that you use these to ensure you include all information requested.

Use of “up to” and “between”

Allowing the wording “up to” in grazing plans defines the total limit of stock, and this is what the site will be inspected on. There is a level of flexibility should some stock need to be removed from a site for any reason. When “up to” is used on a site, it is permitted to occasionally have no stock (for example if there is insufficient forage/ground is very wet/to reduce risk of trampling breeding bird nests) but all stock movements and the resultant (lu/ha) for the Land Parcel Identification (LPID) must be recorded in the Management Diary.

An appropriate grazing level needs to be delivered to ensure positive management of the habitats in question. Undergrazing can be as detrimental to sites as overgrazing.

Using the wording “between” is advised if a more precise stock figure is required on site.

Scoring Criteria – Revisions to Targeting Maps

Two of the targeting maps referred to as part of the AECS Scoring Criteria guidance have been amended. The details are as follows:

National Priorities - Biodiversity: enhancing biodiversity in the wider countryside by conserving vulnerable priority species (VPS)

The Vulnerable Priority Species Target map for Black Grouse in the Supporting guidance for Vulnerable Species has been updated to remove the RSPB wader hotspots which featured in the current version.

Additional Points - Spatial Priorities

The South of Scotland black grouse targeting map in the Spatial Priorities section has been updated to cover the full breeding and wintering range rather than the present breeding range.

We apologise for the late publication of these updated targeting maps. Any 2018 application affected by these changes will be considered carefully once the assessment process is underway.