The NFU has learnt of some isolated reports regarding members feeling discouraged or even being refused Uplands ELS on SSSI’s where Natural England would prefer to see an HLS agreement in place. Natural England have now issued guidance to their field officers to ensure a consistent approach is being applied across the country.
Natural England has stated in their guidance that:
“Where the application to enter Uplands ELS is not considered to result in damage to a SSSI but the SSSI remains in unfavourable condition, the applicant should be offered HLS. However, an Uplands ELS agreement cannot be withheld on the basis that an applicant will not accept an offer of an HLS agreement. Therefore, in this context, we cannot withhold an Uplands ELS agreement on the basis that a SSSI on the holding is not in favourable condition or where an agreement is unlikely to improve the condition of the SSSI (even when an Uplands ELS option is applied to the SSSI).”
However, if any of the compulsory requirements or any of the prescriptions under selected options are considered damaging to an SSSI on the holding, then a number of solutions are suggested such as considering replacing the Uplands ELS options that are seen to be damaging, applying some conditions along with the Uplands ELS agreement or offering an HLS agreement.
Therefore, only if none of the above can be applied or are acceptable can an Uplands ELS agreement be refused
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