Title, commencement and extentU.K.

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Hill Farm Allowance Regulations 2001, shall come into force on 19th March 2001 and, subject to paragraph (2), shall apply to England.

(2) Paragraph 1 of Schedule 3, and regulation 10 in so far as it relates to that paragraph, shall also apply to Scotland.

InterpretationU.K.

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

(2) Any reference in these Regulations to a Community instrument is a reference to that instrument as amended on the date on which these Regulations are made.

(3) Any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation (with no corresponding reference to a specific instrument) is a reference to the regulation so numbered in these Regulations and any reference to the Schedule is a reference to the Schedule to these Regulations.

(4) A reference in these Regulations to anything done in writing or produced in written form includes a reference to an electronic communication which has been recorded and is consequently capable of being reproduced.

Marginal Citations

M1S.I. 1975/2210, amended by S.I. 1976/1203, S.I. 1977/1960 and S.I. 1979/941 and revoked by S.I. 1979/1748.

M2S.I. 1979/1748, amended by S.I. 1980/2028, S.I. 1981/1843 and S.I. 1982/1886 and revoked by S.I. 1984/2024.

M3S.I. 1984/2024, amended by S.I. 1985/2075, S.I. 1987/2129, S.I. 1991/392 and S.I. 1991/1439 and revoked, insofar as they applied to Northern Ireland, by S.R. (N.I.) 1987 No. 92 and, insofar as they applied to Great Britain, by S.I. 1992/269.

M4S.I. 1994/2740, amended by S.I. 1995/100, 1481, 2778 and S.I. 1996/27 and revoked by S.I. 1996/1500.

M5S.I. 1996/1500, amended by S.I. 1997/33, 1998/206, 1999/375; S.I. 1996/1500 ceased to apply by virtue of S.I. 1999/3316.

M7O.J. No. L214, 13.8.1999, p. 31.

M8O.J. L246, 30.9.2000, p. 46.

M9O.J. L280, 30.10.1999, p. 43.

M10O.J. L160, 26.6.1999, p. 1.

M11O.J. L332, 28.12.2000, p. 63.

M12O.J. L281, 04.11.1999, p. 30.

M13O.J. L228, 08.09.2000, p. 25.

M15O.J. No. L355, 5.12.92, p. 1.

M16O.J. L182, 21.7.2000, p. 4.

M17O.J. L160, 26.06.1999, p. 21.

M18O.J. No. L160, 26.6.1999, p. 80.

M19S.I. 1994/1712, amended by S.I. 1996/3109, S.I. 1998/1606 and S.I. 1999/590.

M20S.I. 1999/590 amended by S.I. 1999/2735 and 2933.

M21S.I. 1992/2677 amended by S.I. 1994/2741, S.I. 1995/2779, S.I. 1996/49, S.I. 1997/2500 and S.I. 2001/281.

Power to make paymentsU.K.

3.  Subject to regulation 5, the Minister shall make payments of hill farm allowance in respect of the year 2001 to any claimant who is eligible under regulation 4 in respect of any eligible forage area.

Eligibility of producers for hill farm allowanceU.K.

4.—(1) Subject to Article 14.2 of Council Regulation 1257/1999 (third indent), and to regulation 5, a claimant shall be eligible for hill farm allowance provided—

(a)his claim is made in an area aid application submitted in the year 2000;

(b)an area of at least ten hectares of claimed forage area entered in that area aid application lies within a less favoured area; and

(c)subject to paragraph (2), the notional livestock density on the eligible forage area is not less than 0.15 livestock units.

(2) The Minister may determine that a notional livestock density of less than 0.15 livestock units is sufficient for the purposes of paragraph (1)(c) if he is reasonably satisfied that it is appropriate to do so in all the circumstances of the case, having regard, in particular, to the number of animals other than relevant animals kept on the eligible forage area and any other obligation of the claimant as to the number of animals that may be kept on the land comprising the eligible forage area.

(3) In order to enable him to consider whether to exercise his discretion under paragraph (2), the Minister shall be provided with such information as he reasonably may require.

Conditions as to continued use of eligible landU.K.

5.  Hill farm allowance shall not be paid to a claimant unless—

(a)he has given a written undertaking, in such forms as the Minister may reasonably require, that he will or would, for a period of five years from the date of payment of the first compensatory allowance, continue to use at least ten hectares of eligible land for agriculture; and

(b)he is not in breach of that undertaking at the date of payment.

Release from undertakingU.K.

6.  A claimant is released from the undertaking referred to in regulation 5—

(a)if he is prevented from continuing to discharge that undertaking by reason of any material circumstance beyond his control; or

(b)if he ceases farming and at least ten hectares of the eligible land last used by him for the grazing of animals continue to be used for agriculture.

Rates of paymentU.K.

7.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) and to regulations 8 and 9, payments of hill farm allowance in respect of the descriptions of eligible forage area specified in column 1 of Schedule 1 shall be made—

(a)in relation to the first 350 hectares of eligible forage area in respect of which the claim is made, at the rates specified in column 2 of Schedule 1;

(b)in relation to the next 350 hectares of eligible forage area in respect of which the claim is made, at one half of the rates specified in column 2 of Schedule 1.

(2) Subject to regulation 4(1)(b), if the notional livestock density is less than 1.0, the payment shall be increased by 20%.

(3) Except where paragraph (2) applies, the total amount payable to a claimant shall be increased by 10% if the claimant satisfies any one of the following criteria, and by 20% if he satisfies any two or more such criteria—

(a)the claimant is a registered organic farmer;

(b)the claimant—

(i)in the year 2000, submitted applications for both sheep annual premium and suckler cow premium; and

(ii)the number of suckler cows in respect of which he applied for suckler cow premium in that year is equal to at least 15% of the relevant animals;

(c)the notional livestock density is less than 1.2;

(d)at least one hectare, or 5% (whichever is the smaller), of the claimant’s eligible land is planted with arable crops or woodland in respect of which the claimant is not receiving any other financial support and was not converted from permanent pasture after the year 1998.

Increments to paymentU.K.

8.—(1) After calculating the amount payable to each claimant as provided by regulation 7, the Minister may, if he thinks fit, increase that amount by a fixed percentage provided that—

(a)such increase does not exceed 20% of that amount; and

(b)the percentage increase is the same for each claimant.

(2) If the amount payable to a claimant by virtue of regulation 7 and paragraph (1) is less than 90% of the compensatory allowance paid to that claimant in respect of the year 2000, he shall be paid, in addition to that sum, such further sum as is necessary to increase the total hill farm allowance payable to him to 90% of the compensatory allowance paid to him in respect of that year, or, if less, such proportion of that further sum as relates to the claimed forage area which was entered in his area aid application for that year and which lies within a less favoured area.

Exclusion of forage areaU.K.

9.  In relation to any claimant who has an individual reference quantity of milk available to him, the deductions specified in Schedule 2 shall apply to the claimed forage area for the purposes of determining the relevant forage area.

Holdings situate partly outside EnglandU.K.

10.  The provisions of Schedule 3 shall apply in relation to holdings situate partly outside England.

Joyce Quin

Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

20th February 2001