Plans for farming payments in Wales are announced
10 July 2018
Lesley Griffiths, Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs in the Welsh Government, has unveiled new proposals to replace Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Glastir and other parts of the Rural Development Programme. The proposals will be subject to a consultation until October.
Campaign for National Parks has welcomed the consultation as a chance to make sure that those farming within Wales’ three National Parks receive payments that deliver widespread environmental improvements in these spectacular landscapes.
Sheep farmer and his dogs in the Brecon Beacons. Photo credit: Brecon Beacons National Park Authority
The proposals include the two following schemes:
- The Economic Resilience Scheme will provide investment to land managers and their supply chains to increase competitiveness, productivity and food production.
- The Public Goods Scheme will provide income to land managers delivering public goods from the land.
Lesley Griffiths said: “Welsh land matters. Over 90% of Welsh land is in the hands of our farmers, foresters or other stewards of the landscape. How land is managed matters to us all and our land managers have the potential to produce outcomes of huge importance to Wales.”
Fiona Howie, chief executive of Campaign for National Parks, calls on the Senedd to ensure the Public Goods Scheme delivers a better environment for National Parks, saying: “The majority of the land within our National Parks is privately owned and farmed, so working with Welsh farmers to enhance the beauty, wildlife and character of the landscapes within the Parks is essential. Around 80% of the land within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, for example, is privately owned.
We will be looking carefully at how public goods are defined. We want to see landscape quality and recreation included in the scheme. It is essential for the quality of the environment within the Parks and the future of rural communities that we get the new schemes right,” Fiona concluded.