Natural England announces dates for HLS applicants

Natural England is now contacting farmers who have applied to join the HLS scheme this year to give them start dates for their agreements. A number of priority cases will receive start dates this financial year and the remainder start dates from April 2011.‪

A temporary freeze was placed on HLS applications in October 2010 while the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) budget was assessed following the results of the Comprehensive Spending Review. The Government protected spending on HLS, guaranteeing the future of the scheme and keeping it open to new applicants.

Natural England will contact farmers and land managers with pending applications by 14 December 2010.

The Government is committed to making HLS more effective by further increasing its focus on key environmental outcomes, such as protecting wildlife and reducing water pollution, while capping spending on farm buildings and no longer offering annual access payments to new applicants. Natural England will be working closely with applicants to make sure that new HLS agreements incorporate these changes.

Jim Smyllie, Natural England Executive Director, said: "The processing of HLS applications was understandably affected by the changes in the budget announced in recent weeks. We look forward to working in partnership with farmers to turn their applications into high quality agreements.

"The productive and sympathetic management of farmland, under HLS, makes a very important and positive contribution to the environment and is essential in directing public money to those areas where it can deliver the greatest value."

Natural England and Defra are currently working together to confirm the numbers of new HLS agreements which we can fund in future financial years. Further information on this will be issued in due course.‪