Title and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Cambrian Mountains) Designation (Amendment) Order 1997 and shall come into force on 1st May 1997.

Amendment of the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Cambrian Mountains) Designation Order 1986

2.—(1) The Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Cambrian Mountains) Designation Order 1986(3) shall be further amended in accordance with the following paragraphs of this article.

(2) In paragraph (1) of article 2 (interpretation)—

(a)in the definition of the word “bank”, for the word “or” where it occurs immediately after the word “stone”, there shall be substituted the word “and”;

(b)after the definition of “buffer zone” there shall be added the following definition—

““conservation plan” means a plan for the carrying out of one or more of the operations specified in Schedule 5 which the farmer undertakes, as part of an agreement, to implement within a period of two years;”;

(3) In article 6 (rates of payment under agreement)—

(a)in subparagraph (e) of paragraph (3), for “£35” there shall be substituted “£95”.

(b)in paragraph (5)—

(i)in subparagraph (a), for “£20” there shall be substituted “£30”;

(ii)in subparagraph (c), for “£25” there shall be substituted “£30”;

(iii)in subparagraph (e), for “£50” there shall be substituted “£90”;

(iv)in subparagraph (f), for “£70” there shall be substituted “£125”;

(v)in subparagraph (g), for “£80” there shall be substituted “£125”.

(c)for paragraph (7) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(7) Where an agreement includes a conservation plan, the Secretary of State shall also make payments in respect of operations included in the plan, subject to a maximum of £20,000 for that agreement.”.

(d)paragraph (8) shall be deleted.

(4) In paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 (conservation plan operations) the word “traditional”, where it occurs before the word “farm”, shall be deleted and the words “using traditional materials” shall be inserted after the word “buildings”.

Saving

3.  Paragraph (3) of article 2 of this Order shall not apply in respect of any annual payment to a farmer which relates wholly or in part to any period before 1st May 1997.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Cambrian Mountains) Designation Order 1986 (S.I. 1986/2257) which designated an area in the Cambrian Mountains as an environmentally sensitive area, in compliance with Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2078/92 (OJ No. L215, 30.7.92, p. 85) on agricultural production methods compatible with the requirements of the protection of the environment and the maintenance of the countryside.

The Order amends and adds definitions, amends the rates of payments to be made by the Secretary of State pursuant to a management agreement made under section 18(3) of the Agriculture Act 1986 and also amends the description of one of the operations that may be included in a conservation plan (articles 2 and 3).

No Compliance Cost Assessment in relation to this Order has been prepared.