Tir Mynydd budget raised

At a session of Plenary in the Welsh Assembly today, Elin Jones AM, Plaid Cymru asked the Minister for Sustainability and Rural Development, Jane Davidson, whether she would honour the decision taken by Plenary on 28 March 2007 to reorientate expenditure under the proposed Welsh Rural Development Plan (RDP), in favour of the Tir Mynydd scheme. The Minister replied she was happy to confirm she would.

Commenting on the reply, Dai Davies, NFU Cymru President said, "I warmly welcome the Minister's response to uphold, what I felt, was a clear and unequivocal mandate to the new Minister. I appreciate that it has taken courage to overturn the proposal which would effectively have reduced support for hill and upland farmers by 40%, compared to 2006 levels.

"I am pleased that the Minister's decision will mean that the further reduction in the 2008 budget to just £22million will now be reversed and we will be looking next year at a revised budget of some £29million."

Dai Davies concluded, "NFU Cymru has fought hard for 18months against the last administration's proposals regarding Tir Mynydd and it is a tragedy that all this time and effort could not have been put into something more constructive such as developing a scheme which delivered on shared aspirations upon which from the very start NFU Cymru had made it clear it was prepared to engage with Government.

"However, we are pleased that the new Minister has addressed this issue swiftly."