Recently Defra published revised guidance on GOV.UK regarding how Environmental Stewardship agreements are affected by greening.
Natural England has now written to the majority of the 4,000 Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) and Organic Entry Level Stewardship (OELS) customers whose agreements are potentially affected. These are agreements which started on 1 January 2012 or later, and have one or more of the 37 options which could result in double funding. The letter sets out what customers need to do to identify whether they are affected by greening double funding and, if so, the choices which are available.
If you have received a greening double funding letter you need to reply to Natural England by 15 November to confirm what you want to do. Natural England has produced a Double Funding Tool to help you work out how you could amend your agreement to address any impact of double funding. If Natural England does not hear back from you by 15 November, they will assume you are content with any reduction in payment for the options affected by double funding. If you wish to amend your agreement, you must provide details of the changes you wish to make by 20 December.
Please contact Natural England on 0300 060 3900 if you wish to discuss the impact of double funding on your agreement and the options available to you.
2 comments
Comment by J Greenwood posted on
If Natural England has still only written to the majority of those who are potentially affected how can they set a deadline of November 15th?
Comment by Alice Hammond posted on
Thanks for your question. I can confirm that the remaining few customers to receive a letter have complicated agreement issues. Natural England is contacting these customers by phone to discuss their individual situations. The majority were written to by mid-October, so can consider their options and reply by 15 November.