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THE STATE OF SCOTLAND'S FARMED ENVIRONMENT 2005

21. ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE AREA SCHEME AND COUNTRYSIDE PREMIUM SCHEME

Implementation

The scheme applied to all of Scotland outside the ESAs but, unlike the ESA scheme, was constrained by a national budget and was therefore competitive. Consequently only the best applications were accepted and, if necessary, applications were ranked on:

1. Proposals to manage sites designated under European environmental legislation
2. The proportion of priority habitats (see below) occurring on the holding and proposed for management;
3. The number of non-priority habitats/features proposed for management
4. Proposals to manage habitats/features jointly with neighbours
5. Any continuation of management from previous agri-environment scheme;
6. Any proposals for the enhancement of designed landscapes.

Farmers entering the scheme had to conform with some General Environmental Conditions (equivalent to ESA Tier 1 but no payment was made for this under CPS). They could then select habitats/features to be managed from a general list that included some options not present in the ESA scheme (e.g. beetle banks, restoration of vernacular buildings). For each of the 8 regions overseen by SEERAD’s area offices, some habitats/features were identified as local conservation priorities following discussions with SNH and local farming, crofting and conservation interests. The priority habitats in the list could change from year to year. The larger the number of priority items included in a farmer’s application, the greater the chance that the application would be funded, especially if the scheme was over-subscribed.

Uptake

In the absence of detailed monitoring information, it is possible only to pick up one or two general points regarding the uptake of the CPS. In 2004, £4.3m was paid to 1,117 CPS participants Scotland-wide covering an area of 669,000 hectare. There were differences in the number of participants in SEERAD sub-regions, ranging from 5 in West Lothian to 173 in the region comprising Aberdeen City , Aberdeenshire and NE Moray. However there are no readily available data on the proportions of those areas entered into the scheme. The equivalent 2004 data for ESAs (which were starting to decrease as agreements reached their 10-year lifespan) and RSS are shown in Table 21.1.

Table 21.1 : Number of participants and cost of CPS, ESA and RSS in 2004

	Number of participants	Range in no. across SEERAD sub-regions	Cost (£m)	Area (in 1000 ha)*
CPS	1,117	5-173	4.3	669
ESA	2,452	28-372	9.7	815
RSS	2,713	6-664	11.5	714

Source: SEERAD (2005a); * area data from SEERAD (2005b)

 

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Updated: 23 January 2024

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