G/AG/N/GBR/1  
 
19 February 2020  
(20-1276) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Agriculture  Original: English  
 
 
NOTIFICATION  
The following submission, dated  18 February  2020, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the United Kingdom . The notification concerns new or modified domestic support 
measures exempt from reduction ( Table DS:2). 
 
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The notification covers the following measure:  A Regulation for the Country Stewardship Scheme 
transferring it into United Kingdom domestic legislation to be in place from 2021 until 2024.  
 
 
  G/AG/N/GBR/1  
 
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  Table DS:2  
DOMESTIC SUPPORT: UN ITED KINGDOM  
Notification under Article 18:3 of the Agreement:  
New or modif ied domestic support measures exempt from reduction  
 
(1) FULL TITLE OF ME ASURE:  
The Countryside Stewardship (England) Regulations 2020.  
(2) DOMESTIC LEGISLA TION REFERENCE:  
The Statutory Instrument 2020 No.41 is laid under section 98 of the Environment Act 1995.  
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/41/contents/made  
(3) DETAILED DESCRIP TION OF MEASURE WITH  REFERENCE TO CRITER IA: 
Countryside Stewardship is an agri -environment, forestry and woodland scheme that currently 
operates in England as part of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) under the 
European Union’s (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).  
The current RDPE programming period runs from 2014 to 20 20. Withdrawal from the EU means 
that the United Kingdom (UK) will not be part of the next CAP programming period. This 
instrument enables a new application round for Countryside Stewardship to open in 2020, with 
the first agreements starting in 2021. The new round will be a standalone grant scheme that will 
be UK Exchequer funded and governed entirely by domestic legislation. The territorial application 
of this instrument is England only. This measure is exempt from reduction commitments 
consistent with An nex 2, paragraph 12 of the Agreement on Agriculture regarding payments 
under environmental programmes.  
The new domestic scheme will continue to provide funding for farmers, woodland owners, 
foresters and land managers to make environmental improvements thr ough activities such as: 
conserving and restoring wildlife habitats; managing flood risk; creating and managing 
woodland; reducing water pollution from agriculture and encouraging educational access by 
hosting school visits. It will be a simplified version  of the current EU scheme designed to 
encourage more applicants; increase delivery of environmental benefits and decrease the 
administrative burden on applicants, agreement holders and delivery bodies. The amount of 
payment shall be calculated on the basis  of income forgone in complying with the government 
programme, and is consistent with grants made under the previous CAP scheme.  
This instrument will also allow a new round of the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund to 
open for applications in 2020, with the first agreements starting in 2021. This will provide UK 
Exchequer funding for people or organisations who help groups of land managers to work 
together to improve the natural environment at a landscape rather than single -farm scale or to 
achieve g reater improvements than individual holdings could achieve on their own. This measure 
is exempt from reduction commitments consistent with Annex 2, paragraph 2 of the Agreement 
on Agriculture regarding payments under other general services.  
Both measures will be administered by the Rural Payments Agency and advice will be provided 
by Natural England and the Forestry Commission. The schemes will be competitive and 
applications offering the greatest environmental benefits and value for money will be  offered an 
agreement. These will last for either 2, 3, 5, 10 or 20 years depending on the specific activities 
applied for and their complexity.  
(4) COST OF MEASURE:  
GBP 60 million estimated for 2020 applications.  G/AG/N/GBR/1  
 
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  (5) DATE OF ENTRY IN TO EFFECT:  
11 February  2020.  
(6) PERIOD OF APPLIC ATION:  
The application window for the grant will be open from 11 February 2020 to 31 July 2020. Grants 
will be issued from 2021. This programme will run until 2024.  
(7) PRODUCTS TO PRIN CIPALLY BENEFIT (IF ANY INDIVIDUAL PRODU CT(S)): 
No specific products.  
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