The latest information about new CAP schemes in England, including more details about greening, crop diversification and Ecological Focus Areas is now online here
It has a short section on common land on pages 2 & 3.
Common land will be eligible for the BPS. Defra are still working on the detailed rules, but commoners are likely to activate their entitlements against a ‘notional area’ of a common based on the number of rights they hold to graze animals on the common. They also know that:
- Defra will be using new maps of common land, so the notional area of the common may be different from 2014 – they will consult on these maps over the next few months.
- shared grazing will be treated in much the same way as common land – graziers will activate their entitlements against a ‘notional area’ of the grazing in proportion to the share of the rights they hold to graze animals on it
For those where greening rules might apply:
- your notional area of the common will count towards your eligible agricultural area under the greening rules (see page 12) – so if the common is permanent grassland, it may help you qualify for an exemption from the greening rules.
- the permanent grassland rules for greening will apply to most commons.
Also Defra will continue to calculate the notional area for the New Forest differently to other commons.
