What We Did

• Delivering the England Rural Development Programme (ERDP)
• Other rural services

Delivering the England Rural Development Programme (ERDP)

The ERDP comprises seven separate but integrated schemes designed to help rural businesses and communities protect the countryside and adapt to the demands of an increasingly competitive rural economy.

RDS delivered five of these schemes including the new Environmental Stewardship scheme, which consists of:

• Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) - to encourage farmers to deliver simple yet effective environmental management.
• Organic Entry Level Stewardship (OELS) - for organic farmers with land not currently receiving conversion aid.
• Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) - to reward farmers for delivering significant environmental benefits in high priority situations and areas.

RDS managed ongoing agreements under former ERDP schemes, which are now closed for application. These include the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, Environmentally Sensitive Areas Scheme, Rural Enterprise Scheme, Processing and Marketing Grant and Vocational Training Scheme

The remaining two ERDP schemes are:

• England Woodland Grant Scheme managed by the Forestry Commission
• Hill Farm Allowance managed by the Rural Payments Agency.

Other rural services

RDS delivered a wide range of other rural services:

• Wildlife Management Team - wildlife management advice and licensing services, and enquiries into incidents of suspected poisoning of wildlife and companion animals by pesticides.

• Land and Grazing Management Team - advice and guidance on land management, rural planning, agricultural land classification, minerals and waste, Environmental Impact Assessment regulations, overgrazing, undergrazing and unsuitable supplementary feeding issues.

• Providing advice to farmers - the delivery of Defra-funded technical and business advice to farmers, advisers and other land managers. Providing a series of seminars and on-farm activities to give advice on the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) cross compliance requirements, farm business, conservation and environment sensitive farming (to protect soil and minimise pollution of air and water).

• Weeds Act 1959

• Rural Support, see Farming Help

• Heather and Grass Burning - By law burning is allowed only between: 1 November and 31 March in lowlands; 1 October and 15 April in uplands. At all other times a licence is required. To apply for a licence and further details contact Natural England.

The following rural services are now delivered by Animal Health:

• Dairy Hygiene Inspections - registration of dairy farms; inspection of milking premises, equipment and milk-producing animals; and enforcing satisfactory standards (work carried out on behalf of the Food Standards Agency).

The following rural services are now delivered by Defra:

• Agricultural Wages Committee (AWCs) and Agricultural Dwelling House Advisory Committee (ADHACs)

• Agricultural Land Tribunals (ALTs)