Investing in our environment

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Investing in our environment

30/11/2012

Measures to boost the environmental worth of Scottish farmland will benefit from the latest round of Rural Priorities funding, worth more than ?19 million.

Organic producers will benefit from ?1.47 million of support alongside projects to enhance biodiversity on protected designated sites, support black grouse and improve water quality.

This brings the total of Rural Priorities funding approved to around ?568 million since it was launched through the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) scheme in 2008.

Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said:

?This latest round of more than ?19 million of Rural Priorities funding will provide much-needed support to environmental and forestry projects across rural Scotland. This essential funding will support a wide range of activity from planting new woodland to investing in organically managed farmland across Scotland.

?These projects will not only benefit the rural communities which are being supported but will also make a substantial contribution to meeting climate change and favourable condition targets, protecting and enhancing some of our most valuable areas designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

?Over the past five years, we have approved around ?568 million of Rural Priorities support benefiting thousands of projects across rural Scotland. This vital funding under the Scotland Rural Development Programme will continue to deliver wider environmental benefits across the country for many years to come.?

Projects approved in the Axis Two ?agri-environment? and forestry funding round include:

A collaboration of projects in Tayside will work with the Saving Scotland?s Red Squirrels project to coordinate control of grey squirrels by landowners across the region. Around ?300,000 will be distributed over the next five years. This will fund a total of 18 cases to create barriers for grey squirrels to help halt the decline of the native red squirrel, one of our most iconic species.

David Kirkpatrick of Auchenbainzie, Thornhill has been awarded ?40,228 over five years, to manage water margins, habitat mosaics and wetland. This funding will also create two hectares of new woodland over fifteen years. These projects will restore, conserve and enhance species and habitats that are important to Dumfries and Galloway, providing nesting areas and habitats for a wide array of plants, insects and birds.

Jeff Stoddart of Halls Farm, Penicuik has been awarded ?100,518 over five years, to deliver a conservation grazing programme on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The restructuring of livestock management on the farm will benefit grassland and fen habitats in the SSSI. This will improve the quality of the land for a diverse array of species through targeted planting and sensitive grazing.

Alexander Cook of Mosshead, Inverurie has been awarded ?93,420 over five years to convert his entire 84 hectares farm to organic production. This will enable the business to farm all of the land at Mosshead organically, delivering associated biodiversity, pollution control, energy efficiency and soil protection benefits. This proposal also contributes to the national target of increasing the area of organically managed farmland in Scotland.

The approved schemes aim to meet the key Axis Two outcomes of improving water quality, mitigation of climate changes and the protection and enhancement of Scotland?s bio-diversity and landscape. This will make a significant contribution towards helping Scotland meet its international commitment, set out under the Natura Directives, UN and EU policy, to reach climate change and favourable condition targets on designated protected sites (SSSIs).

There will also be a considerable range of biodiversity benefits which include; helping to maintain traditional grazing management on fragile land, active management of semi-natural habitats and providing feeding and nesting sites for a range of farmland breeding birds.

This is the 13th round of funding under Rural Priorities and focuses on Axis Two (agri-environment and forestry) projects.

Rural Priorities is a competitive funding mechanism under the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP). It delivers targeted environmental, social and economic benefits to 11 designated regions of Scotland. The priorities for each region are agreed with local stakeholders and contracts are awarded for the proposals which are best able to deliver those priorities.

The Scottish Government and European Union funding covers part of the cost of individual projects, with the remainder coming from the applicants ? a healthy sign that rural businesses and community groups are investing in their future.

Related information

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/SRDP/RuralPriorities/KeyFacts/Case-Studies

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/SRDP/RuralPriorities

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/SRDP/RuralPriorities/WhatRegion

Source: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/ID3/271593

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