The Common Agricultural Policy (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2018

Amendments to the Common Agricultural Policy (Cross-Compliance) (Scotland) Regulations 2014

14.  In Part 2 of the schedule (standards for good agricultural and environmental condition)—

(a) in paragraph 1 (establishment of buffer strips along water courses)—

(i) in sub-paragraph (2) after “within” insert “, or on any land in a manner which will likely result in organic manure being located within,”; and

(ii) after sub-paragraph (7)(1), insert—

“(8) In this paragraph, “field heap” means a store or stack of organic manure which is a freestanding heap which does not slump or produce free draining liquid from within the stacked material.”;

(b) in paragraph 5(1) (minimum land management reflecting site specific conditions to limit erosion) for “prevent” substitute “limit”; and

(c) in paragraph 7 (retention of landscape features)—

(i) for sub-paragraph (2) substitute—

“(2) A beneficiary must not trim a hedge or cut a tree during the period beginning on 1st March and ending on 31st August in any calendar year (“the prohibited period”), except in accordance with sub-paragraph (3A) or (3B).”;

(ii) for sub-paragraph (3) substitute—

“(3) Written consent under sub-paragraph (1) is not required—

(a) to widen field entrances to enable access for livestock or farm machinery; or

(b) where the hedge (or part of a hedge) or tree is—

(i) dead;

(ii) damaged; or

(iii) insecurely rooted,

and because of its condition it poses a risk to human safety.”;

(iii) after sub-paragraph (3) insert—

“(3A) Trimming a hedge or cutting a tree is permitted during the prohibited period—

(a) for the purposes of hedgelaying up to and including 31st March; or

(b) to the extent necessary for the purposes of road safety.

(3B) Trimming a hedge or cutting a tree during the month of August in any calendar year is permitted if—

(a) the hedge or tree is in a field which during that month has been sown with—

(i) a crop of oilseed rape; or

(ii) temporary grass; or

(b) the hedge or tree is in a field which during that month has been sown with any other crop and the Scottish Ministers have given the beneficiary written permission to trim the hedge or cut the tree.”; and

(iv) in sub-paragraph (7)—

(aa) omit “and” at the end of head (b)(ii); and

(bb) for head (c) substitute—

“(c) “hedgelaying” means a traditional method of cultivating hedges where tall saplings are partly cut through near the base and then bent over so that they lie horizontally and make a thick barrier; and

(d) “necessary for the purposes of road safety” includes where a tree or hedge—

(i) overhangs a road, surfaced track or footpath to which the public have access so as to endanger or obstruct the passage of vehicles, pedestrians or horse-riders; or

(ii) obstructs or interferes with the view of drivers of vehicles or the light from a public lamp.”.

(1)

Sub-paragraph (7) was inserted by S.S.I. 2015/215.