Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (c. 69)

Part II E+W+S Nature Conservation, Countryside and National Parks

Nature conservation E+W+S

32 Duties of agriculture Ministers with respect to areas of special scientific interest. E+W+S

(1) Where an application for [F1 a farm capital grant] is made as respects expenditure incurred or to be incurred for the purpose of activities on land notified under section 28(1) or land to which section 29(3) applies, the appropriate Minister—

(a) shall, so far as may be consistent with the purposes of [F2 the grant provisions], so exercise his functions thereunder as to further the conservation of the flora, fauna, or geological or physiographical features by reason of which the land is of special interest; and

(b) where the Nature Conservancy Council have objected to the making of the grant on the ground that the activities in question have destroyed or damaged or will destroy or damage that flora or fauna or those features, shall not make the grant except after considering the objection and, in the case of land in England, after consulting with the Secretary of State.

(2) Where, in consequence of an objection by the Council, an application for a grant as respects expenditure to be incurred is refused on the ground that the activities in question will have such an effect as is mentioned in subsection (1)(b), the Council shall, within three months of their receiving notice of the appropriate Minister’s decision, offer to enter into, in the terms of a draft submitted to the applicant, an agreement under section 16 of the 1949 Act or section 15 of the 1968 Act—

(a) imposing restrictions as respects those activities; and

(b) providing for the making by them of payments to the applicant.

[F3 (3) In this section—

• “the appropriate Minister” means the Minister responsible for determining the application;

• “farm capital grant” means—

(a) a grant under a scheme made under section 29 of the Agriculture Act 1970; or

(b) a grant under regulations made under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 to a person carrying on an agricultural business within the meaning of those regulations in respect of expenditure incurred or to be incurred for the purposes of or in connection with that business, being expenditure of a capital nature or incurred in connection with expenditure of a capital nature;

• “grant provisions” means—

(i) in the case of such a grant as is mentioned in paragraph (a) above, the scheme under which the grant is made and section 29 of the Agriculture Act 1970; and

(ii) in the case of such a grant as is mentioned in paragraph (b) above, the regulations under which the grant is made and the Community instrument in pursuance of which the regulations were made.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Words substituted by Agriculture Act 1986 (c. 49, SIF 2:1), s. 20(2)(a)

F2 Words substituted by Agriculture Act 1986 (c. 49, SIF 2:1), s. 20(2)(b)

F3 S. 32(3) substituted by Agriculture Act 1986 (c. 49, SIF 2:1), s. 20(3)