Eligibility for hill farm allowance
6.—(1) A claimant who satisfies the conditions in paragraph (2) is eligible for hill farm allowance.
(2) The conditions are that—
(a)the claim relates to at least—
(i)ten hectares of severely disadvantaged land in England, or
(ii)one hectare of severely disadvantaged land in England, where the claimant is eligible for a related less favoured area allowance in another part of the United Kingdom;
(b)subject to paragraph (5), the notional livestock density is not less than 0.15 on land that is—
(i)less favoured area in England, and
(ii)in the claimant’s holding; and
(c)the land referred to in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b)—
(i)was available to be grazed or have a forage crop taken from it for a continuous period of seven months, starting on any date from 1st January 2009 to 31st March 2009 inclusive, and
(ii)during that seven-month period, was available to the claimant to be grazed or have a forage crop taken from it for a period, or periods in total, of at least four months.
(3) But a claimant who is in breach of the agricultural undertaking is not eligible for hill farm allowance, unless the Secretary of State considers it reasonable in all the circumstances that the breach should not affect the claimant’s eligibility.
(4) Subject to Schedule 5 paragraph (8), a claimant who ceases to farm does not breach the undertaking referred to in paragraph (3) provided that at least ten hectares of the land in respect of which the undertaking was given continue to be used for the purposes of agriculture.
(5) The Secretary of State may determine that a notional livestock density of less than 0.15 is sufficient given the circumstances of any particular case or group of cases.
(6) A claimant must provide such information as the Secretary of State reasonably requires to enable a determination under paragraph (5) to be made.
(7) The Secretary of State must notify the claimant of any such determination in writing or, where the determination is made in relation to more than one case, publish that determination in such way as the Secretary of State thinks fit.
(8) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(c), land is taken to be available to be used for grazing or to have a forage crop taken from it if it is not so available only as a result of an agri-environment agreement.
(9) In this regulation, “agri-environment agreement” means—
(a)an agreement made as part of a scheme made under Article 39 of Council Regulation 1698/2005, or
(b)such other agreement involving environmental commitments as the Secretary of State thinks fit.
(10) In paragraph (3), the “agricultural undertaking” means the undertaking given by the claimant pursuant to Article 14(2) of Council Regulation 1257/1999 or Article 37(2) of Council Regulation 1698/2005 to pursue farming activity in a less favoured area for at least five years from the date of the first payment to that person in a claim made under these Regulations or any of the Hill Farm Allowance Regulations 2005 to 2009(1).