Farming in the Uplands - ARCHIVE: Defra

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Ev 90 Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee: Evidence Ultimately, planning policy is one of several factors that aVect the provision of housing as reflected in the Commission for Rural Communities report “High ground, high potential” page 38, and all National Park Authorities take a proactive approach to working alongside Housing Authorities and Homes & Communities Agency to address local housing need. November 2010 APPENDIX 1 VISITOR CONTRIBUTION SCHEMES IN NATIONAL PARKS Lake District—Nurture Lakeland The following information is taken from the Nurture Lakeland website www.nurturelakeland.org. “Nurture Lakeland is charitable trust that operates a ‘Visitor Payback’ scheme that encourages visitors to voluntarily support conservation by donating a very small amount of money via their bill or fees. The project operates by recruiting tourism related businesses to become members of Nurture Lakeland. The membership is made up of a large number of hotels and guest houses of all sizes, caravan parks, holiday cottage companies and a broad spread of tourism related businesses, such as design companies, transport companies and retailers. Once businesses are members of Nurture, they pledge to raise money for a chosen conservation project. A number of fundraising techniques are used including: Opt Out: Businesses, typically hotels, add a small amount, usually just £1 to the customer’s bill. The customer then has the option to “opt out of this payment, by crossing it oV or un-ticking the box. The English Lakes Hotels group has to date raised a total of £81,000 as a result of a £1 opt out on customers’ bills. Match Funding: Some member businesses are also prepared to ‘match fund’ the monies raised by opt out, and some even double this. Donations: Collection boxes are still used although they don’t bring in large amounts. More successfully, Nurture Lakeland has recently started giving hotels donation envelopes which they put in guests rooms with their welcome pack. Sponsored products: Some organisations have identified a product they can sell where either all or part of the revenue is passed on to Nurture Lakeland. Benefits both ways: A small 10p levy on the price of the Ullswater Steamer’s ticket has to date brought in £20,000 for conservation work around the Ullswater Lake. This has been used to fund path repair work on the popular Howtown to Glenridding trail. There is benefit both ways from this work; benefit to walkers, who have a well maintained path to walk on, benefit to Ullswater Steamers who receive good publicity for their support, and a great benefit to the conservation of the lakeshore of Ullswater itself.” The website indicates that more than £1.5 million has been raised for conservation projects in the Lake District over the past ten years and that the scheme is the largest Visitor Payback scheme in Europe. However, we do not have information on the proportion of income that is received from visitor donations compared to grants and other sources, or how the income from visitors compares to the costs of running this element of the scheme. EMBARGOED ADVANCE COPY: Not to be published in full, or part, in any form before 00.01am GMT Wednesday 16 February 2011 Exmoor National Park—Caremoor for Exmoor In Exmoor National Park voluntary contributions are sought from visitors to contribute a range of conservation and access projects. Sources of funding include: — Proceeds from events: eg from participants at Exmoor National Park Authority guided walks and activities. — Percentage of ticket/entry fees such as Exmoor Challenge (organised by Rotary Club for Exmoor ); Lynmouth Harbour Boat Trips; Exmoor Explorer Mountain Bike Event (Team Zoyland); North Devon and Exmoor Walking festival. — Royalties from some publications. — Collection boxes. Typical annual income from the scheme is currently around £5,000. Northumberland National Park—Good Nature Fund The Good Nature Fund is currently managed through a semi-autonomous group called the Northumberland National Park Environment Association, see: http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/grantsandsupportgoodnaturefund. Contributions are gathered from a number of sources notably: — Donations from businesses.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee: Evidence Ev 91 — Donations from % of profits from sales of publications, photographs, etc linked to NPA supported projects. — Donations made by visitors at our Centres. — Donations made by visitors using re-usable trail guides from village centres, eg Elsdon Village Trails. The Environment Association is responsible for allocating the funds, either to add value to other grant funded projects or for stand-alone projects. The mechanism for this allocation process is currently being reviewed by the Association. Once this is clarified and agreed, we will promote the scheme more widely. The value of donations currently held in the Environment Association account is around £4,500. As with other similar schemes, the benefit of this scheme is more about awareness and education, than generating income. Yorkshire Dales—Three Peaks Project The Three Peaks Project was launched in April 2009 and aims to ensure that the three Peaks (Ingleborough; Pen-y-ghent; Whernside) area, which is one of the most heavily-used rights of way networks in the country, is maintained and improved in the long term by: — generating a sustainable income to help pay for its management; — creating new opportunities for businesses, groups and visitors; — promoting understanding of the area’s special qualities; and — encouraging people to help look after the area. The project gives users of the network the chance to support the area and the work of the Authority by raising money for it. This can be by: — asking participants in sponsored events like charity walks to donate part of their entry fee to the project; — providing merchandise to celebrate walking one, two or all of the peaks (whether in one go or over an extended period); — joining the Friends of the Three Peaks; and — building business and community interest in the area that will help support it. A number of major charities like the NSPCC and Heart Research UK are using the Three Peaks area to raise money for their causes this year and have already pledged their support for the project. They will be donating cash to be used directly in the upkeep of the Three Peaks path network. Three Peaks has raised £19,000 since summer 2009. Also worth noting is the visitor contribution scheme being operated by the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust. Further details are at: Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust. The money raised goes to support environmental, economic and social projects in the Dales. “Donate to the Dales” generally raises £20,000–£30,000 per year from a combination of individual donations and corporate donations. EMBARGOED ADVANCE COPY: Not to be published in full, or part, in any form before 00.01am GMT Wednesday 16 February 2011 APPENDIX 2 FURTHER EVIDENCE REGARDING HEADAGE PAYMENTS AND OVERGRAZING Background The two headage support measures which significantly influenced livestock farming in the uplands between the mid 1970s and 2003 were the Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowance (HLCA) and the Sheep Annual Premium (SAP). The HLCA was introduced in 1976 with 25% of the funding from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund. The HLCA was not conceived as a production subsidy. Its purpose was to provide compensation for the additional costs of production in the hills, to keep farmers in the less favoured areas and to support the conservation of the countryside. 1 However its method of delivery was as a payment per ewe. The HLCA did limit the number of stock for which support could be claimed, in the case of ewes this was to a maximum of six per hectare but this limit is clearly beyond the normally accepted environmental limit for moorland of two ewes per hectare. The SAP was introduced in 1981 as a payment per ewe. A limit on the number of sheep for which support could be claimed was introduced in 1989 and quotas introduced in 1993, using 1990 as the reference year. 2 However the support had already significantly increased the trend towards higher stocking which was started by the introduction of the HLCA. Quotas eVectively stabilised the overall ewe numbers but at a much higher level than in 1976 (see graph).
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walked they ain’t coming back, be
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great, but there is the wider issue
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to engage in a conversation with th
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Q161 George Eustice: One of the com
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