Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Designation Order (Northern Ireland) 2005 and shall come into operation on 8th June 2005.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Order –

“agreement” means an agreement made after the coming into operation of this Order under Article 3(2) of the Agriculture (Environmental Areas) (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 as respects agricultural land in any of the areas designated by Article 3;

“arable land” means land on which cereal or other arable crops are grown;

“archaeological features” means all extant historic or archaeological sites which have been identified by the Department of the Environment in the Sites and Monuments Record;

“Area of Special Scientific Interest” means an area of land declared to be an area of special scientific interest under Part VI of the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order 1985(2);

“bat box” means a box for bats to replace the natural location lost through changes in farming practice;

“breeding wader sites” means sites used by breeding waders;

“broadleaved farm woodland” means vegetation dominated by a minimum of 50% cover of broadleaf native trees, containing a minimum of 80% native species;

“conservation cereal” means an area of crop which is grown with minimal use of pesticides;

“closed grazing period” means a period when grazing of livestock is not permitted by or under any statutory provisions;

“fallow plot” means a plot of arable ground that is ploughed in spring or autumn and not sown with any crop;

“farmer” means a person who has an estate in agricultural land in any of the areas designated by Article 3 and Schedule 1 and who has entered an agreement with the Department;

“fen” means an area which is waterlogged and flooded in the winter and remains damp in the summer with a vegetation characterised by the absence of terrestrial plants;

“field boundaries” means hedgerows, sod banks, or dry stone walls and associated features;

“grass margin” means a strip of unfertilised land between 2 and 25 metres wide adjacent to an Area of Special Scientific Interest, National Nature Reserve, Natura 2000 site, watercourse or woodland or between 2 and 6 metres wide adjacent to a field boundary;

“habitat” means the normal abode or locality of animals or plants;

“heather moorland” means land supporting at least 5% cover of heather, bell heather, cross-leafed heath, bilberry and western gorse;

“heritage feature” includes rural features of historic interest;

“improved land” means grassland on which more than 25% of the sward is comprised of rye-grass, timothy, red-fescue or white clover and any land used for arable crops;

“land” means the area designated in Schedule 2;

“large nest box” means a nest box with a floor area of approximately 203mm x 165mm for birds to replace the natural location lost through changes in farming practice;

“lowland raised bog” means intact or cut-over dome shaped peatland;

“management plan” means a set of prescriptions for the management of field boundaries, farm wastes and habitats;

“moorland” means land with predominantly semi-natural upland vegetation, or comprising predominantly rock outcrops and semi-natural upland vegetation;

“National Nature Reserve” means land declared to be a national nature reserve under Article 18 of the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order 1985;

“Natura 2000 site” means an area designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under Council Directive 92/43/EEC(3) or as a Special Protection Area (SPA) under Council Directive 74/409/EEC(4);

“parkland” means an enclosed area of land at least 3 hectares in extent with a minimum of two mature trees per hectare;

“parkland management plan” means a management plan agreed with the Department designed to restore parkland through a programme of tree planting and restoration of landscape features;

“protective fencing” means a woven wire or line wire fence completed to at least BS1722 standards;

“red squirrel feeder” means a hopper feeder that enables squirrels to reach food by utilising the weight difference between adult red and grey squirrels;

“reed bed” means a wetland dominated by stands of the common reed where reed cover is greater than 75%;

“restricted grazing period” means a time of year when limits to stocking levels apply;

“rough grass field margin” means land forming a strip with a minimum width of 2 metres around arable fields in which cereal or other arable crops are being grown and on which a suitable grass mixture is sown;

“rough moorland grazing” means coarse grassland vegetation comprising wholly or mainly mat-grass, purple moor-grass, cotton-grasses, wavy hair grass and sedges;

“scrape” means a shallow depression temporarily or permanently holding water created for the benefit of breeding waders;

“scrub” means woody vegetation under 2 metres tall;

“semi-natural grassland” means grassland characterised by sward of low productivity grasses, sedges or rushes and a high cover of herbaceous plants;

“small nest box” means a nest box with a floor area of approximately 120mm x 150mm for birds to replace the natural location lost through changes in farming practice;

“species rich grassland” means grassland with a sward of low productivity grasses and a high cover of herbaceous plants;

“species rich hay meadows” means species rich grassland used for the production of hay;

“traditional orchard” means an orchard planted with traditional varieties and no greater than 0.4 hectares;

“undersown cereals” means a spring cereal crop sown with a green cover crop such as ryegrass;

“unimproved land” means grassland containing not more than 25% rye grass, timothy, red fescue or white clover;

“wetlands” means an area with a naturally high water table, at least until mid June and generally liable to seasonal flooding;

“wild bird cover crop” means a crop mixture which is not normally used for agricultural production and where the individual components cannot be harvested separately;

“winter feeding sites for migratory swans and geese” means fields of grassland or winter cereals or oilseed rape which have been regularly used for winter grazing by a minimum of 25 swans or geese (except Canada goose and feral Greylag goose) for at least three of the previous five winters.

Designation of environmentally sensitive areas

3.  The Department hereby designates as environmentally sensitive areas the areas of land listed and described in Schedule 1.

Requirements of agreements, additional matters in respect of which payments may be made and amounts of payments

4.—(1) The requirements as to agricultural practices, methods and operations and the installation or use of equipment which must be included in agreements are those specified in Schedule 2.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Article, the Department may make payments under an agreement in consideration of the requirements included in the agreement pursuant to paragraph (1), up to the maximum payment rate as set out in Schedule 3 for each hectare of land managed to which the agreement relates.

(3) The additional matters in respect of which the Department may make payments under an agreement are specified in column 1 of Schedule 4 and column 1 of Schedule 5.

(4) Subject to the provisions of this Article, the Department may make payments under an agreement in consideration of a matter included in the agreement pursuant to paragraph (3) and Schedule 3 or Schedule 4 up to the maximum payment rate specified in column 2 of Schedule 3 or, as the case may be, column 2 of Schedule 4 opposite the reference to that matter.

(5) Subject to paragraph (6), payments under paragraph (4) in consideration of a matter included in the agreement pursuant to paragraph (3) and Schedule 5 shall not exceed £2,500 per annum for each farmer.

(6) For the purposes of paragraph (5) the matters set out in the following paragraphs of Schedule 5 shall be disregarded –

(a)paragraph 2(d);

(b)paragraph 2(e) and (f) provided the activities undertaken form part of a parkland management plan;

(c)paragraph 3;

(d)paragraph 7;

(e)paragraph 8(c) and (d) provided the activities undertaken are associated with fencing of habitats;

(f)paragraph 9.

(7) Subject to the provisions of this Order the Department shall make payments of grant in arrears, with such frequency as the Department may determine, not exceeding 2 payments per year.

(8) The Department shall not accept an application for grant in relation to any eligible land which is occupied by a tenant unless it is satisfied that the tenant has notified the landlord of his intention to make the application.

(9) The Department shall not accept an application for grant for an area of less than 3 hectares.

Revocation and saving

5.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Designation Order (Northern Ireland) 2001(5) is hereby revoked.

(2) The revocation in paragraph (1) shall not apply in relation to any agreement made under Article 3(2) of the 1987 Order before the coming into operation of this Order.

Article 3

SCHEDULE 1DESIGNATION OF ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE AREAS

1.  That area of land in County Down which is shown coloured green on the map marked “Map of Mourne Mountains and Slieve Croob Environmentally Sensitive Area” dated 26th May 2005, sealed with the Official Seal of the Department and deposited at the offices of the Department at Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3SB.

2.  That area of land in County Antrim which is shown coloured green on the map marked “Map of Antrim Coast, Glens and Rathlin Environmentally Sensitive Area” dated 26th May 2005, sealed with the Official Seal of the Department and deposited at the offices of the Department at Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3SB.

3.  That area of land in County Fermanagh which is shown coloured green on the map marked “Map of West Fermanagh and Erne Lakeland Environmentally Sensitive Area” dated 26th May 2005, sealed with the Official Seal of the Department and deposited at the offices of the Department at Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3SB.

4.  That area of land in County Armagh which is shown coloured green on the map marked “Map of Slieve Gullion Environmentally Sensitive Area” dated 26th May 2005, sealed with the Official Seal of the Department and deposited at the offices of the Department at Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3SB.

5.  That area of land in County Tyrone and County Londonderry which is shown coloured green on the map marked “Map of Sperrins Environmentally Sensitive Area” dated 26th May 2005, sealed with the Official Seal of the Department and deposited at the offices of the Department at Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3SB.

Article 4(1)

SCHEDULE 2REQUIREMENTS TO BE INCLUDED IN AN AGREEMENT

1.  The farmer shall –

(a)comply with the Good Farming Practice with regard to the Environment(6), published by the Department;

(b)include all land designated in Schedule 1 in an agreement entered into with the Department in writing under these Regulations;

(c)retain and not damage any habitat, landscape or water feature, or heritage feature;

(d)retain existing field boundaries and not remove any hedge, tree, copse, scrub, ditch, dyke or wall or any part thereof, except with the prior written permission of the Department;

(e)maintain open drains and sheughs in accordance with the written advice of the Department;

(f)keep the eligible land free from rubbish and litter;

(g)seek the permission of the Department before undertaking work which may have a detrimental impact on any habitat, landscape feature or heritage feature; and

(h)comply with management plans provided by the Department for field boundaries, farm wastes and each of the habitats specified in the agreement.

2.  The farmer shall not –

(a)undertake ploughing, levelling or reseeding of unimproved land, or any semi-natural grassland;

(b)apply any herbicide, pesticide, fungicide or insecticide on any land other than improved land except spot treatment or weed wiper application of herbicide for control of noxious weeds or with the prior written permission of the Department;

(c)undertake any land reclamation or install new underdrainage or substantially modify the existing drainage system;

(d)apply lime to any habitat other than improved land unless with prior written approval of the Department;

(e)cause severe damage to vegetation by poaching or repeated vehicular access, (including all terrain vehicles) nor graze land with livestock in such numbers as adversely to affect the growth quality or species composition of vegetation (other than vegetation normally grazed to destruction) to a significant degree;

(f)carry out any activity or deposit on, or extract from the land, any article, material or substance in a manner likely to detract significantly from the natural beauty of the land or damage or destroy flora and fauna or materially alter the geological or physiographical features of the land; or

(g)realign, dredge or dam any watercourse nor alter the water levels within any existing water feature without the prior agreement of the Department.

Article 4(2) and (4)

SCHEDULE 3WHOLE FARM PAYMENT

maximum payment rates under article 4(2)

Article 4(3) and (4)

SCHEDULE 4ADDITIONAL MATTERS IN RESPECT OF WHICH THE DEPARTMENT MAY MAKE PAYMENTS

Article 4(3), (4), (5) and (6)

SCHEDULE 5ADDITIONAL MATTERS IN RESPECT OF WHICH THE DEPARTMENT MAY MAKE PAYMENTS SUBJECT TO AN OVERALL MAXIMUM

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

Article 3 of the Agriculture (Environmental Areas) (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 (“the 1987 Order”) gives the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (“the Department”) power to designate areas as environmentally sensitive areas where it appears to it particularly desirable to conserve, protect or enhance environmental features in those areas by the maintenance or adoption of particular agricultural methods.

This Order designates certain areas of land as environmentally sensitive areas (Article 3 and Schedule 1). The designated areas are defined by reference to maps which are available for inspection during normal office hours at the offices of the Department at Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast, BT4 3SB.

Article 3(2) of the 1987 Order enables the Department to enter into an agreement with any person having an interest in agricultural land in a designated area by which that person agrees in consideration of payments to be made by the Department to manage the land in accordance with the agreement. This Order specifies the requirements as to agricultural practices, methods and operations which must be included in agreements. It also specifies the matters in respect of which the Department may make payments and the maximum rate of those payments (Article 4 and Schedules 2 to 5).

This Order gives effect in part to the agri-environment element of the programming document based on the rural development plan for Northern Ireland submitted by the United Kingdom to the European Commission pursuant to Article 41 of the Council Regulation (EC) No. 1257/1999 (O.J. No. L160, 26.6.1999, p. 80) and which was approved by Commission Decision C(2000) 3638 of 4th December 2000 as amended and approved by Commission Decision C(2005) 952 of 16th March 2005.

Penalties in respect of any breach of an agreement are provided by Article 72 and 73 of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 817/2004 (O.J. No. L153, 30.04.2004, p. 30) and by the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Enforcement) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 (S.R. 2005 No. 277).

This Order revokes, with a saving, an earlier designation order (Article 5).

The rural development plan for Northern Ireland, together with a copy of Commission Decision C(2000) 3638 of 4th December 2000 approving it, as amended and approved by Commission Decision C(2005) 952 of 16th March 2005, is available for inspection at the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast, BT4 3SB.

Good Farming Practice with regard to the Environment referred to in this Order is available on request from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Annex D, Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast, BT4 3SB.

The Sites and Monuments Record is accessible at the Environment and Heritage Service: Built Heritage at 5-33 Hill Street, Belfast, BT1 2LA. The information is also available online at: ads.ahds.ac.uk